Extra-medium post

No joke. I got this spork for Christmas. Crazy Swedes. What will they think of next? Extra-medium, by the way, is my word of 2011. I hope to use it as much as possible. What for, I'm not sure, as its meaning is completely unfathomable, which is why it's so amusing in the first place. Perhaps it can simply be used for everything. Much like a spork.

I will not be having geology-related adventures until the summer, I expect, but I will make a post when I do something interesting. Such as the forthcoming contest to which this rule pertains:

4. Loss of hat during competition shall result in no scoring until the hat is retrieved.

LOSS OF HAT DURING COMPETITION SHALL RESULT IN NO SCORING UNTIL THE HAT IS RETRIEVED. What have I gotten myself into? What kind of a rule is that?

As for the adventures I've had since returning to Denver, they've mostly been snowshoeing. I had never been snowshoeing before, but I immediately loved it. There is not much to it, but it was quiet and beautiful, which is really all that matters.

Driving into the mountains

That is me, sitting down, trying to figure out why I have no feeling in my right foot (bindings too tight)

I lead the way.

A wide-angle shot

The scenery at Brainard Lake. It was very cold. The drinking tube on my hydration bladder froze so I couldn't drink my water.

Me and Jess, on ends, and a mutual friend cower in the ice-particle-laden gusts coming off the lake.

On the count of 3, we look up for a split second so a photo can be taken.

The clouds were doing strange things.

We also saw a moose on the drive back home.

I went on another trip the next weekend, from which I have a couple good shots:


There were some people doing telemark skiing on this mountainside, down which the wind was blowing so hard I couldn't lift my head to see where I was going. We turned back before getting to the top.

Well, that has all been a lot of fun, and I am also very excited to have a social life, after four years of school work and work work occupying all my time.

Eight-player Bananagrams at the apartment

In parting, I would like to point you all to the wonderful new blog Did You Kill That Badger (linked to under "One degree of separation" at top right), in which a museum of natural history worker reflects on some of the more interesting questions she has received from children and adults.

That worker is Kate, who--seen here at the Grand Canyon with a hot dog on a chopstick--was the very tall, clever, and British roommate that Katie and I shared during the summer of 2008. Kate is now in London working on an advanced degree in science communication, though if her blog is any indication, she is already ready for her own TV show.