I can't complain

~Nickel Creek ("Can't Complain")

(written January 12, 2007)

Temperature reading on my car at 7:30am: 0°F
Temperature at lunchtime for the outdoor workout: 22°F

I never knew what it felt like to have my nostril hairs freeze....until today. Now that’s one of the strangest feelings ever. My first week in Bend has been full of fun, new life experiences, nice people, early mornings, even more beautiful scenery than Seattle, and some intense workouts!

In a week, I have become a semi-saavy snow and ice driver...something I never thought would happen. The drive from Eugene was fairly epic. For some reason, the designer of my car thought: “let’s see how small I can make the clearance between the tires and the wheel well,” making it nearly impossible to put the chains on the car. But that’s not all. At the second pass on the way to Bend, we were forced to stop and chain up. Dad jumps out in his shorts and has his chains on the suburban before I can even get all layered up. I was feeling good because I was totally going to do this on my own. I get the chains out and layed behind the tire...and I can’t fit my fingers under the wheel well. Turns out that 300 pounds of books and other most likely unneeded shit in your car weighs it down a little....who knew? So, after unloading the trunk and using the jack, my chains were on and things were looking great. It was actually fun (and beautiful) driving over to Bend.



So now, I live in a house that my roommate, Jinn, owns. We also have another roommate, Beth. So far, we are having fun and doing more than I thought I would in my first week here. Jinn and I went running on Saturday, which was an interesting experience when I started to slip on the ice and contemplate how badly injured I would get if I bit the dust. Supposedly they have these things called Yak tracks which are basically strap-on snow shoes to run in....I might have to invest. Jinn played D1 basketball at Montana State and has already recruited me to play post on their way-better- than-me city league team, which could be fun or frustrating...I’m not sure yet.

Work went amazingly well this week. I wasn’t as exhausted as I usually am the first week of a real job, the snow and ice were hardly ever a problem, I love all of my coworkers, and as far as I know at this point, I really like what I’m doing in lab. Bend Research, Inc. is an awesome place to work. I’ve already been invited out for beers twice, we get free food and drinks all the time, I can see about 6 mountains from our parking lot, we have really awesome outdoor workouts with a personal trainer a bunch of times a week, and then there’s the holiday party tomorrow. Hm. This should be interesting since I swear 98% of my coworkers, although they’re mostly only in their late 20s to late 30s are friggin married. Lots of cute guys...all with rings. Blast. That’s worse than all ugly guys by a long shot!

So far I’ve made a couple freshman mistakes in lab, and I don’t feel like I’m getting the respect I deserve quite yet, but there’s time for that. I made three different polymers, and started getting trained on some equipment too. There is also, apparently, time for like 6 meetings a day. Not including my first day, which was all meetings, I’ve been to 5 in the last 4 days. Not too shabby for a first week intern. Of course, don’t ask me whether I understand what they’re saying or not.

So there we have it. I’m alive and loving Bend so far. Even the crazy-ass coldness isn’t that bad, and I will be going through a bottle of lotion every day. Did I mention I got paid today? Things are definitely looking up. Oh, and this is my view from work:

So, this is the New Year...and I don’t feel any different (written Jan 3)

~Death Cab for Cutie (The New Year)

At least not quite yet.

In retrospect, 2006 was a year I could never have predicted. Even just in December: the “northwest windstorm 2006” hit with a no-holds-barred attitude (it will probably be remembered even more than the Inaugural Day storm in 1993), James Brown died on Christmas, I set a record for most Christmas cookies eaten in one week, Sadaam was noosed a couple days following, it snowed in Seattle twice, Gerald Ford passed away last week, and I had a lovely liquid New Years Eve following a day of driving in pretty much every district of Seattle to see friends. For me, some of 2006 was good, a lot of it was mediocre, and a small portion I’d rather not recall. Oh, it also rained an insane amount.

Driving home last night from Seattle to Eugene to prepare for the big move across the mountains to Bend this Friday, I hydroplaned enough to make me eligible for the Seafair races this summer. White-knuckling for 6 hours straight and streaming profanity at trucks is not my favorite activity. Now I get to prepare for some snow driving this week...yee haw!



This past month while I was at home, even though I was often busy knitting, baking cookies, cooking dinner for my parents, wrapping gifts, watching TV or sleeping, I made some pivotal realizations. First, I finally had to understand that I don’t have money. Any. Not working for 6 months really can stick it to ya. Perhaps I’ll have to take a stab at (gasp) budgeting in the near future. Secondly, Christmas wasn’t as magical this year. I’m not fully certain I can explain why, but things just seemed different, less joyful and rushed this year. Plus, apparently I’m “growing up”? It was still fun, and having some new additions to the family was certainly a treat. At Quest Church on Sunday, we had time to talk about the past year and share with each other. It’s so easy to say that I was busy this year and just didn’t prioritize time with the Lord, like I could say every year. But, I can pinpoint it a little more this year: the word for 2006 was distraction. The first six months, when I was loving my senior year even in the midst of some health problems, I allowed myself to be involved in seemingly everything, yet left some of the most important goals at the curb. Then, of course, when I moved to Eugene, I had a ton of time to exercise, read the Bible and other books, pray, et cetera. But, did I, you ask? Of course not. I allowed my perceived fatigue, knitting, classes, crippling loneliness (just kidding), incessant movie watching, slacking and zombie internet-surfing to squeeze out most of the time I could have spent doing more valuable activities.

So, as I look forward to 2007, I have a lot of hopes. Sure, you may call them resolutions, but whatever the nomenclature, I have lofty goals for what will happen in the next 12 months. I will be going to an insane amount of weddings, which is all good, as well as a much anticipated family trip to Hawaii and hopefully lots of outdoor fun in Bend and wherever I can afford to go. But more than doing, I hope this year is a year of thinking, prioritizing, reading, renewed commitment to health and being active, and most of all, putting my relationships first. I also have committed to flossing and doing 30 pushups a day. We’ll see how long that lasts...although, I shouldn’t jinx it on January 3rd.

Will Katie (and her coworkers) live through her first “real” job as a Chemistry researcher? Is there romance in her future? How about friends? Can she ski without breaking a bone for the first time? Will she freeze to death? How will the BMW fare in the snow and craziness? Will Katie meet and marry John Krasinski? How radical will her knitting skills get?

Stay tuned as Katie’s 23rd years unfolds and probably surprises even her at most moments...