Well, I sure haven't posted here in awhile. What's up with that?

Under the Pale Moon

I'm not gonna say this thing will never have new entries, but I made it back to Texas, and at this point Idaho seems like a twisted dream. School craziness is already beginning (meeting new people = scary), and I'm looking forward to seeing some old faces. Thanks to all my Austin friends for making it bearable.

I'll shortly post the slide from the poster I made that encapsulates the basics of the research I did this summer, but not yet! So yes, I guess there will be another entry.

Industrial Symbiosis

I went back here today to take some more pictures of the huge piles of antlers, but they were gone! Where did they go?

Pollution Solution by Dilution

So the INL has their own news anchor team, which records the daily news that is broadcast on the flatscreens in the lobbies of the office buildings here. Too bad for them, there really isn't that much news going on at the lab. They look very professional though, and I guess broadcast journalism is a tough field to get in to, so you gotta start somewhere.

Like the INL, I don't have much news either. Things are winding down here, and I'm in the process of designing a poster for the poster show they have at the end of the summer. Improbably, my work actually turned out pretty interesting, and I'm looking forward to showing it off. Industrial development in foreign countries is soo much more universally appealing than theoretical neutron transport, so I am expecting a good reaction from the audience.

A friend and I went today to a store called Shadow Domain, which is sort of wiccan oriented and sells swords and incense and silly gifts, probably the closest thing to a headshop in Idaho Falls. We also hit up the two specialty wine shops in the town, a bakery, and the climbing gear store, so pretty much saw the best this place has to offer. Let me tell you, I am looking so forward to drinking that first Lone Star when I get back.

Below, a barn. The Vivtar Ultra Wide and Slim is awesome. We'll see if it still works after being submerged in a waterfall twice.

Reservoir & Waterfall

I've been doing a lot more outdoors stuff lately up here. I have to say, I'm pretty lazy, but it's been surprisingly enjoyable to get out and about. We've been doing some cliff jumping in a local reservoir and also hiked down a waterfall. I actually have something approaching a tan, and spending all day hungover in the mountains is a touch better than laying around hungover in sad sad Idaho Falls.

Today I went on a tour of something called "the site" at INL, about 1 hour away from town. It's basically the lab part of the complex where they condition spent fuel and where the advanced test reactor is located. We also saw EBR-1, which is the first power reactor in the world, and lit the town of Arco, ID for one glorious night in the 50s.

Two members of our tour group was assigned to wear dosimetry tags, which record the dose of radiation one is exposed to. I was one of the lucky tag bearers, so of course, as we are going through the metal detectors at one of the facilities, I put the tag through the x-ray machine. That is a big no-no, and when the data from the tag comes back, it'll look like I was fried pretty good. The tour guide was pretty cool about it, but I felt like a pretty big dumbass.

Overall the tour was pretty good, and I enjoyed seeing the army guide with their M-16s, and I also got to play with some of the robotic arms. Anything to get out of the office for a day...

Wind Cave Redux

So we attempted the Darby Wind Cave again on Sunday.

The vast snowfields and mudpits are gone, so that made for much easier going on the hike, although I still conversed with exhaustion through most of it.

(Exhaustion: Hi, I'm back again. Feel your lungs burning? See all those switchbacks up there? Yeah, I'll be your hiking buddy from now on. And that liter of water is nowhere near enough.
Me: Ok, gasp, um, you don't have to mock me, but you can stay, gasp, and you're much better company than that Common Sense guy)

Alright, so that exchange didn't actually happen, but we did make it into the cave. It was cold and windy and dark, with tight spaces to squeeze through and wet rock and freezing mountain water. I don't think I'll be going back to the cave, but I'm glad to have gotten there.

I wish I had a better picture of this cave, especially from inside, but if you look closely you can see a waterfall, and that is the mouth of the cave.

Big Baby Boredom

Yup, not much going on around here.

I went to trivia night again on Tuesday and won a round. They tried to give me a Jewel CD, but I exchanged it for Wyclef Jean, which sadly was the best thing they had. Actually, I did end up going to karaoke after that. I sang The Sign, which is by far one of my most favorite songs. I'm such a bad singer, but that's an easy one.

Tomorrow I am going rafting on the Snake River with a few of my bosses and other interns. The water level is high, so I think it's gonna be pretty rapidy. I've never been whitewater rafting, so hopefully I don't fall in or get seasick. I'm expecting exhilaration. Honestly.

This weekend I'm hoping to explore some of the swimming opportunities around the area. Supposedly there is a really cool lake with cliff jumping and a rope swing somewhere north.

Jackpot!

Some friends and I went to Jackpot, Nevada over the weekend to do some gambling. It's the closest place that offers real casinos with table games. It's true: gambling is for suckers. I lost a little bit of money, but we had fun, and the drinks are free.

Jackpot is right over the northern Nevada border, about 3 hours away. The town is nonexistent, basically several smallish casinos surrounded by a trailer park and discount liquor store. We stayed in a hotel/casino, and even went to the buffet and swam in the pool. I played mostly blackjack and watched my friends lose money in no-limit hold em. I think the key is to play penny slots till your arm falls off and keep the complementary drinks coming.

It's easy to get depressed in casinos. The median age is old, the Social Security checks of the vast majority of gamblers either trickling away in nickel slots or gushing forth in $10 buy-in black jack. If you can ignore the reek of loneliness and decrepitude, you might just have a good time. If not, at least you've reminded yourself of some of the worse 'what-ifs' in life, speeding back across the Sawtooths toward the loose embrace of a different kind of escape.

form is void

So, we hiked up the the Darby Wind Cave today. It's right on the Wyoming Idaho border (Wydaho) in the Tetons. Holy crap, that hike totally wrecked me. It was about 5 miles at around 8000 feet, and we had to cross many streams on scary logs. A few of my friends fell in, but somehow I made it over each one. That mountain water is freezing.

We got up pretty close to the cave, which has huge cathedral entrance with a violent waterfall pouring out of it. The final part of the hike was steep and off the trail, because the whole area was covered in snow. I was about waste deep in snow for some of this. Not cool. We couldn't get into the cave because it was buried, although my friends made a good effort and did some pretty impressive rock climbing. I got totally dirty, wet, and exhausted, but it was beautiful, and I'm proud that I didn't roll of the mountain at some points. We're gonna try again in a few weeks, hoping that the snow will be melted.

Way to survive, Julia.

Wind Cave

Today me and some friends are going down into this wind cave. Supposedly it's very awesome and beautiful but also scary. I've never been great with enclosed spaces, so hopefully I can wriggle my way through. I'll let you know later if I survive, in one way or another. Ah, shallow sanity.

Shooting Random Stuff

So we went out to the hills to do some more shooting over the weekend. The place we ended up parking had all kinds of great stuff to shoot, including some old bowling balls, a band saw, car batteries and a decomposing pig carcass (ok we didn't shoot that). We brought a broken humidifier and decimated it. We also brought some old orange juice jugs and filled them with dry ice, then shot them. That way, you get a double delayed-reaction explosion. I love hanging with engineers.

Shooting the 22 is great. There is virtually no kickback and it's very accurate. However, I am terrible with the shotgun. I couldn't hit a single clay pigeon, and I have a big bruise in my armpit.

Sorry, camera still broken, but here's me with the M16 at Fort Hood:

No News is Good News

This week has been basically uneventful. I went to trivia night last night and won two of the rounds. The prizes I won were a free appetizer and a cheesy rap CD by Baby Bash called "Cyclone." I blasted the CD on the way home, and it sucks royally. In the liner notes, the guy says "I never wanted to be the best rapper, but my vision is to be consistent and write hits in this crazy business." Why so modest Baby Bash? And trust me, your album is not consistent, and there are few if any hits. There aren't even swears on any of the tracks. If there's no Parental Advisory, it's not worth it.

Pioneers

We made it out to Jackson yesterday. It's about 90 minutes away, east into Wyoming and over the Teton pass. The weather turned perfect, and the scenery is absolutely spectacular. The town itself is very touristy and almost 100% fake-western. It's built up around a ski resort and is full of expensive leather & cowboy gear purveyors, as well as bistros. However, we sat outside at a normal-seeming coffee shop, which is literally impossible to do in this part of Idaho.

A friend and I stocked up on lots of liquor out there; the town has a much better selection than you can find in IF. Although I have to say, it's weird, but Idaho doesn't seem to tax wine. It's very cheap, and you can get a really nice bottle for under $10.

I'm looking forward to doing more shooting today. We got a bunch of CRTs and old tvs to shoot at. Better watch out for the ricochet!

WTF

So, this is the scene I woke up to this morning. Ok, it's not that dramatic, but that is definitely a layer of snow coating my car. It's June; that's just not right.

It's freezing cold here, and the wind is constantly gusting. I'm going to a couple bbqs in the next few days, but it sure doesn't feel like cookout weather. My only consolation right now is $3 Walmart wine. Plus, I do get to wear my favorite cold weather clothes for another month.

My work here is fairly interesting, except I sit in a gray cubicle basically encircled by douchery. Think I'll drive out to Jackson Hole on Saturday. It's supposed to be beautiful, and has got to be more exciting than this town.

Eons Ago

So last Saturday was the big Mountain Beer Fest. Even though it was very windy and the beer all started to taste the same after awhile, we had a lot of fun. It was excellent people watching, with all kinds of freaks coming out of the woodwork. Most of the beer was from Utah, Wyoming and Montana, and there were at least 100 different breweries.

Something about living in a small town is starting to appeal to me. There is never any traffic coming home, which is a nice break from Austin. Not much seemed to have changed here in a long time, and if you go out on Sundays (when almost nothing is open) you can instantly tell who believes in golden plates and magic glasses.

Unfortunately, the charger to my camera battery is malfunctioning, so I won't have any pictures for a bit. It's ok though, because you can ogle Prague and Vienna (I took these in March), which are basically the same as Idaho Falls.

First Week!

Hi there.
I just finished my first week of work for INL and the massive bureaucracy that is the DOE. Seriously, it took me four days to get a garbage can in my cube, and that's without any trash bag to speak of. Also, it's impossible to do any work, because I don't have a locking drawer, and my source documents necessitate locking up. Picture sad me with no source documents.
My cube is barren. Just a desk and computer. I could totally move my bed in there and stay always.

Here is a window into my night: pretty soon I'll leave and attend the Idaho American Nuclear Society party at the Senior Center. I'm not sure where it is, but I guess I'll just follow the trail of walkers. This party is supposed to be a big deal. I think there's a band. Let's keep our fingers crossed that I don't get too drunk and embarrass myself. After the party I'll come home and send mildly offensive texts to people I barely know to keep me company. All the while, it's 45 degrees here!

First Day!

I had my first day of work today. The majority of it was spent in training, learning the ins and outs of sexual harassment and espionage. Espionage has always had sexy connotations to me.
I also got very lost in a maze of cubes; the building muse be completely modular. My cube is large but empty except for a desk and computer. I could move my bed in there and never leave.

I know it's early to think about, but this weekend is the Mountain Brewers' Beer Fest, and I am unduly excited. http://www.northamericanbrewers.org/BeerFest2008.htm

Below is a friendly beetle I found in the hills. They are everywhere, and slowly eat leaves.

Sportswoman

I am a terrible shot, but from behind a Glock, Idaho looks ok.

I also shot a 9 mm and a 50 caliber black powder rifle.

Should Science Study Religion?

IF is in Bonneville County, which is sorta near the Bonneville Salt Flats speedway in Utah, made famous in several crappy movies. I could probably get my Yaris up to 100 mph out there.

In other exciting news, I got the key to my mailbox today, but I can't get a library card until I have proof of residence (my name isn't on the lease), so I need some mail. Mail me something, ya hear!

2381 Eagle Dr, #201
Idaho Falls, ID 83406

World Without End

Continuing my magical journey, above is the big temple and some of the eponymous Idaho falls.

I walked around downtown today and saw a giant pile of antlers. That bodes well for any potential gun shooting I want to get involved with down the road. Also, there are many antique and consignment shops, and I think I've traveled back to the 1950s.



I really didn't want to write about it on here, but I can't resist: one of my roommates loves dragons and knights and Ren fairs; she makes capes and wears a hat with a feather in it. I'm just sayin'...

Used Books?

Look at me, I'm official.

It's been storming since I got here, and cold.

I went to the "largest used book store in Idaho" today, and the majority of the books were LDS-related. I feel the conversion coming on....

Atomic Idaho

I can't believe my little car actually made it up to Idaho. It chugged all the way through the scrub of Texas through El Paso, up to arid Albuquerque, over the Rockies and through the most hypnotic, alien landscape I've ever seen in Utah. We arrived in Idaho Falls after spending the night in Provo, and I am just getting accustomed to the local, um, culture.

Idaho Falls is a small city in desolate Southeast Idaho, situated on the Snake River, and comprised of a largely LDS population. Up until about 1950, the economy of the city was primarily agrarian, until the Atomic Energy Commission (precursor of the DOE) established the Reactor Testing Station and Idaho National Lab. Also, it is the birthplace of US Senator Mike Crapo, and they don't sell liquor on election days. (Disclaimer: the picture above is not of Idaho Falls, but the San Juan Mountains as viewed from Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado)

From what I can tell so far, there is a distinct palpable divide between lab employees and locals, the mix of several thousand nuclear engineers with many Mormons and the assorted hunting, fishing, wilderness people. I went to a bar yesterday and the hick threat level was very high, like at least orange, but today I was exploring the city a bit, and saw multitudinous spotlessly groomed excessively friendly LDS (LDSes?). I'm still not sure where the scientists are hiding.

A few nice things about Idaho Falls: lots of cheap Alaskan beer and fresh fish. Any big box store you could hope for along with some of the most absurd local businesses I've ever seen (more on that later). The city is the home of the first ever nuclear power reactor, and sits just on the edge of the Grand Teton Mountains and Yellowstone Park in Wyoming.

Things I'll have to learn to love: the movie theater really is an entertainment highlight of this city. Some of my colleagues at work achieve a dork quotient that I almost forgot existed. None of my nice friends are here (except Josh P), and I am hopelessly jaded about most things. I guess it's time for an attitude adjustment!