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megwood55
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Name: Megan
Birthday: 2/11/1983
Gender: Female
Interests: God, my family, my church, getting to know friends better in surprising ways, creation, the ocean, Scuba diving!! Kelp forests, taking pictures, sunset, taking pictures of sunset, bookstores, eating pasta, sandy feet, being outside, sports, traveling, clear night skies, drinking warm things while reading (preferably in a cozy coffee shop), Han Solo (for old times sake), my little bro and sis - Dena & Ben and their family farm, my feline friends - Puma & Natanda (RIP)
Expertise: Scuba diving!! :) Knowledge of all things marine...almost
Occupation: grad student
Message: message me
Website: visit my website
AIM:  megwood55
Member Since:
5/11/2005
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| knitting the night awayhello friends.
so I've been spending quite a lot of time reading blogs...about knitting. why would I do this? well its pretty simple. I've started my new job in the San Fran bay area and I now have a 1.5 hour commute. Each way. Yeah. Its actually not as bad as it sounds and I'm finding myself to be pretty grateful for the daily down time when I'm forced to just sit and focus on something. So in the morning I read the Bible and in the evening I listen to podcasts and knit! Guess what - I'm addicted to knitting! I started during the second week of my job back in November I've already knit up quite a storm. Sounds pretty nerdy, I know, but I'm kinda A.D.D. about needing to do something with my hands while being audibly entertained, so knitting is perfect and it also produces lots of fun products and presents for my friends and fam. My bros and their wives each got a hat or scarf for Christmas and three other friends have gotten similar things this month.
I'm taking orders for other presents if anyone out there needs something to keep them warm, but my brother's twin boy fetuses will take precidence in just a few months (polar bear and yoda hats are already queued up)! If any of you wonderful friends of mine are closet members of Ravelry, friend me! I'm megwood55 there as well.
Ok so here are a few of the things I've made during my short career thus far:
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| transitionsWell its been a crazy couple of months. A few weeks ago I gave the oral defense of my thesis (aka 'why I cut gonads out of things') to a room full of family, friends, peers and professors and it was terrifying and fun and I passed!!! Yippee. My parents then whisked me off to AZ for a while to relax and enjoy their new digs. Then I had to get ready to present my research again in Canadia last weekend, which was rainy and also lots of fun. I felt half at home there. The half that says "eh" a lot. Now I'm trying desperately to get my thesis edited and submitted before the next part of life takes over...
Today was my last work day at home in my comfy little apartment, drinking tons of tea, typing away on my paper and furiously trying to finish the thesis. I've been doing that pretty much nonstop since August, but starting Monday I'm quitting science!! Ok, so not entirely...I'm starting my new job down in Oakland working for a regional branch of NOAA, which is basically the part of the federal government that works on ocean stuff. I'm gonna do marine policy, so I get to be the middleman who supplies scientific information to people who need it in order to take care of the ocean's resources. Should be interesting I hope!
To give a broad overview of life lately, this has been the most challenging and stretching year of my life and it'll be interesting to see if the next one calms down at all or is more of the same. I feel like life until now has been partly sleepwalking and suddenly I got hit upside the head and told to wake up. Growing up is crazy sometimes eh? One thing I know for sure: I'm really happy to be staying here in the SF Bay area, which was 80 degrees today, in the middle of November. Can't beat that. In fact, I'm gonna go sleep on my porch...right now.
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| MarathonOk this is gonna be quick cause I ought to be analyzing data! This weekend I traveled the great distance of 40 miles to participate in the world's coolest marathon, the San Francisco Marathon. Why is it so cool? Cause of the fog, of course...ok, actually its cause SF is awesome and I got to run along the waterfront of the bay, by the famous fisherman's wharf, across the Golden Gate Bridge and back, up through the hills and into Golden Gate Park. I finished the half marathon in a little over 2 hours and it felt great. A couple of my friends continued on through other parts of the city and ran the whole thing with amazingly fast times. Perhaps the best part of the day, besides running over the bridge, were the free massages we got after the race. They had a bunch of massage students all set up in a tent and it was awesome. Running this race was a real testament to God's grace and His healing power. I developed a stress fracture about two months ago, which didn't heal until 2 weeks ago, and yet that was just enough time for me to get back into training and be able to finish the race feeling great. I'm totally looking for a whole marathon to do next, so we'll see which one wins out. I'd like to do the whole SF marathon next summer, but it would also be fun to do a different race!
Well, thanks to everyone who called and emailed encouragement - it was so nice to hear from you guys! Keep up the xanga-ing!!
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| I heart CaliforniaGot back from Yosemite late last night...wish we hadn't had to leave at all, but life carries on! We had a blast, despite my bum foot that apparently is sprained or has a stress fracture.  But crutches and patient friends made the whole thing awesome nonetheless. We got to Yosemite around 6am and got in line to get a camp site (this was one of the busiest weekends of the year up there) and then we hiked up to the bottom of upper Yosemite Falls. We might've gone further but my foot was starting to really hurt so we headed back down. We spent a lot of time at the Ahwanee Hotel, which is big, old and beautiful...the perfect spot to play farkle for hours! The weekend also consisted of swimming in the icy river on a hot day, lots of hacky-sacking, roasting the best sausages ever and of course, smores smores smores!
God's amazing power and beauty is rarely more evident to me than in a place like Yosemite, where the geology is so drastic and incomprehensible and the biology adorning it is relatively untouched and totally breathtaking. It was such a blessing to spend the weekend there, enjoying the creation and having fellowship with other believers who appreciate it as well. I can't wait to go back and conquer the intended target: Half Dome. Couldn't do it this time with the foot, but I'm more determined now than ever!! Hope you all had nice Father's Day weekends!
  
  
 
 
 
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| we be trippin'I'M GOING BACK TO YOSEMITE TODAY!!!!
After much begging of friends and scraping together of necessary camping gear, we are on our way today back to the land of granite greatness. Plans so far: eat tons of marshmallows, hike half dome and try to conquer insane fear of heights, jump in a waterfall, run in the valley, play farkle till I hate it (not possible?), have a super awesome time all around. Check back in a few days to see if I survived/posted new, summer-y Yosemit-y pics!
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