Wow, lots of questions!  That's cool.  Thanks, everyone!  As it is, I'm splitting it up into several different posts.  This one will be more general questions and the next will be more science related questions.  Then I will write a post about why I became a geologist. 

Have you ever been abroad? Where? (from Chloe)
I have been abroad.  I've been to England for a class in college.  At my school, everyone had to take a senior seminar.  Basically a culminating course usually having to do with some sort of religious aspect.  I decided to take my senior seminar abroad.  It was called "The Sacred and the Profane" and focused on the relationship between traditional English church and folk music.  We went to London, Cambridge, Stratford, Dover...  (I'm totally forgetting all the places we went) I even got a semi-private tour of some Napoleonic caves/forts built into the Dover cliffs.  All of it was amazing, but my absolute favorite place we went was Cambridge.  I loved the college town atmosphere, the farmers market, the buildings, the fact that everyone rode bikes (except for the presence and subsequent arrest of a guy who went around stabbing people on bikes while we were there).  It was the coolest place.  If I were to go back to anywhere in England, it would be there.

in the tunnels

Cambridge market

Why do you blog?
I started keeping a blog in college, as a way to just release my emotions or whatever out into the world.  I liked writing and it seemed like a good outlet for me.  Blogging wasn't really social back then.  It was more just writing and putting it out there.  Then, I got LJ to communicate with a few college friends and kept that through grad school.  It wasn't until I moved onto wordpress that I actively started reading other blogs and writing in mine more regularly.  Now, I blog because it's fun and I like reading about what other people have to say on various topics.  It's entertaining. 

What is your favorite hobby?
Ummm... I'd have to say blogging.  It's the only thing I do on a regular enough basis.  Although I also enjoy scrapbooking and yoga, and I'd do a lot more kayaking and rappelling if I had the time/water/money. 



Tell us about one of your happiest memories/moments.
Some of my happiest memories are of Las Vegas.  My field trip to California, a boat trip on my 24th birthday, Cinco de Mayo... I could go on forever on how much I love and adore Vegas.  But I think my happiest, proudest moment was the day of my thesis defense when everything I'd worked for just came together perfectly and I was finally able to share it.  And afterward, when my advisor told me I gave a "kickass" presentation.  I was so proud of myself to have accomplished something so big.  The day I handed in the final copy of my thesis and walked away with a Master's Degree was pretty great too.



What are your plans for the next 5 years? (from Chloe) What do you hope for in the next ten years? (from Rachel)
Well, there are some things that I want to do within the next 5-10 years.  I want to go back to school to get a PhD so that I can fulfill my ultimate goal of having a research position.  I want to collect data, and work in a lab and do analyses and write papers and go to scientific meetings.  I'm currently tossing around ideas of what I'd want to get my doctorate in.  I've thought about paleontology/paleoclimate, or just climate studies in general.  I think it would be fun to work in a museum for a while.  Or in a national research lab.  However, I'm not sure this will ever happen since I have this full time job now and I'm not exactly in a position to leave it, and that bums me out a little.

Favorite movie? (From Wildology)
Oh, I can't just pick one favorite movie.  So here are my top five as per Facebook.
Little Miss Sunshine - makes me laugh/cry every time
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - Hunter S. Thompson, Vegas, and Johnny Depp... what else could I possibly want?
Frequency - it's just cool
Amelie - made me want to learn French
Finding Nemo - I like the ocean 

1 embarrassing/funny moment/memory?
Ok, this one is kinda bad... So, one day in high school I was walking into the building and the girl who drove my carpool told me I had blood stains on the back of my pants.  I didn't really know what else to do except untuck my shirt to cover it up. (We had a dress code that required us to tuck our shirts in) I got away with it for my first class, but while I was waiting in the hall to get into my second class, the assistant principal noticed and asked me why my shirt wasn't tucked in.  So I'm in his office, explaining to him that the reason I'm not following dress code is because I got my period and it's leaking so I wanted to cover it up.  Suuuuper awkward.  All he could say was "ummmm.... ok, well don't do it again..." and send me on my way.  I don't think I got in trouble after that.  Even when I was late for school three times and walked around without a hall pass.  I was such a rebel.
 
Miracle Whip or Mayo?
Hmmmmm...  they're both pretty gross.  Miracle Whip, I guess.  But only a little.  A very, very thin layer on a sandwich.

If you could click your fingers and be anywhere, doing anything - what would you choose? (from Rachel)
What I'd really like is to have several months of free time to just travel, with no worries about money or time commitments.  If I had that kind of time, I'd go to Europe -- Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Belgium...  I'd stay in hostels and walk or take public transportation everywhere.  I would keep an actual paper journal and write in it every day.  Maybe I'd write a book and become famous like Eat Pray Love.  Haha.  I'd probably do some blogging too.  And I would take a lot of pictures.

That's it for today.  I'll be back later with questions part two.