And so begins our odyssey . . .

Well folks, things just seem to have a way of working out for me lately. Somehow I have managed to find myself in a relationship. For those who don't keep up on the blog (or don't feel like reading through the last post) her name is Kristyn, and she is a grad student in my department. I'm going to spare you the romantic reasons for why I like her so much, and just tell you that I think this thing is going to work out for a good long time . . . Kristyn is currently on her way to Italia to tour Tuscany, Umbria, and Florence with her family. It just so happens to be the same exact tour my parents took in May. She'll be getting back August 19th.

While I am slightly saddened that this new cool and interesting person is going to be gone for a while, I have more than enough activities scheduled to pass the time. The rest of this week (and early next week) will be spent finishing up my Ph.D. research proposal. It involves looking at the erosional processes that have occurred in a bedrock stream in Alaska since the Little Ice Age. This will involve me spending several summers in Alaska, getting airlifted to my field site, and frolicking with grizzlies!

I plan on going home next week, stopping in Pittsburgh along the way to see Mr. Chris Stetson at the Heinz Ketchup Factory. I will probably remain home until August 4th, at which point I will return to Blacksburg to partake in some New River rapids until I'm required to be at school on the 13th.

I am getting pretty pumped to start teaching classes. I will be attending a TA orientation August 13th -17th, after which I will be able to mold young minds as I see fit. The orientation week will also give me the opportunity to meet the other incoming grad students. Classes and teaching responsibilities begin on August 20th. I'll be taking three classes (Fluid Mechanics, Advanced GIS, and Active Tectonics, if you cared) and TA'ing two Physical Geology lab sections a week. The TA appointment is going to take a lot of brushing up on rock and mineral identification on my part, as I haven't done anything like this in four years, and when I did have the class, I didn't pay attention (Hey! I was an engineering student). But, I think things will work out just fine, it seems to be the general trend down here in Virginia.