Last weekend, we went to Cheaha for an overnight trip and enjoyed some magnificent views along the way and at McDill Point. We even saw the remains of a crashed plane.
We set up the camp site, and gathered wood. I started the fire this time! Luckily, our camp site was on a south facing ridge, and the wind was blowing from the north, which made the low temps much more bearable. The wind direction changed late Saturday night/early Sunday morning. When we woke up, we hastily packed our gear and left.
A couple of weeks ago, Diwali came and went. My parents skyped with me early that morning, and showed me how they decorated the house for the festival (think of decorated houses with mini-lights at Christmas). It was gorgeous but made me a bit nostalgic. In true graduate student fashion, I called in a take-out order from the Indian restaurant and was home at 7 pm. Tom had set up mini-lights in the living room, and had candles going too. We opened a bottle of Wisconsin wine and enjoyed a nice feast. After dinner, I went back to lab and stayed there until the early morning hours.
Yesterday, I went to Costco. My strategy for dealing with Hoover, traffic, and Interstate-65, is to go as early as I can. Since Costco opens at 9:30 am on Saturdays, I left the house and was at the store at 9:40. There were already a lot of cars in the parking lot! I did splurge on two items: a 3-pack of 8GB USB flash drives, a 2-pack travel coffee cup, and 6 huge (1.75L) wine bottles. Tom had suggested that we stock up on everything we needed from Costco until next year, to avoid going to Hoover during the holiday season (Costco is next to the mall).
With all the work being done on I-65, I took I-459 back to US Hwy 280, and then to Lakeshore parkway. It was a much longer trip, but it made me very happy. I got to see all the beautiful fall foliage, reminiscent of our Cheaha trip.
After putting groceries away, some house cleaning happened, and later that night our plans fell through. So we watched THE game (the commentators called it the game of the century but I have doubts that the commentators had all their mental faculty, since they called a clear catch/reception as an interception?). I was very nervous, but my Tigers pulled through! GEAUX TIGERS! Let's see what the Packers do today.
The countdown has started: I have 1 week until my birthday, 3 weeks to get my thesis written and proof-read by my mentor, and 5 weeks before my defense. Yikes!
Focus on the prize, to be Ph-inisheD (get it? finished spelled with PhD; thanks Em!), and a month long vacation.
