A much overdue update...(from Sarah)

We'll start this out with a nice photo of us in Switzerland.

Wow. I knew this blogging thing wouldn't last long. I'm picking it back up again right now! I think the big problem is that I update my facebook page and then don't have the energy to hit this page, there's only so much talking about yourself you can do. But this is for those of you without facebook pages, enjoy!

Things we've been doing the last few months (in no chronological order):

• We went to a Ben Folds show here in Houston a couple of weeks ago, it was awesome. I have done nothing but listen to his music since then.

• Kellen has been working like a slave in the lab, working up the geochron of his garnets. He's working with HF a lot and we are starting to get concerned that his latest cravings for milk could indicate that the HF is leaching calcium from him. We'll keep an eye on that. (I'm mostly joking, he is being very careful while working with dangerous acids).
  

• It will not surprise any of you who know me that I, a 27 year old girl from Washington State whose favorite television show is the West Wing, voted for Obama and was overjoyed when he won. No need to go too far into politics, but I'm happy that I'll be able to tell our kids that we watched history happen while in the company of good friends (we went to an election party at Mindy and Jason's). Also, you may be interested to know that Harris County, the county that encompasses Houston and its suburbs went solidly blue. That made me feel a stronger kinship with this city.

• We went to the Great American Beer Festival in Denver and saw Ben Kessel for a weekend. That was a fun, alcoholic weekend. We came back inspired and Kellen has brewed two new beers since then.

• Kellen's canoe has been fiberglassed and flipped over, so now the inside of the canoe is getting worked. I'm sure he can tell you more about that.

• We went on vacation! I spent a weekend in Copenhagen visiting my friend from college, Mike Baab, and then met up with Kellen in Switzerland where he was doing his masters field work. We spent a week trucking around the Alps and Lake Geneva. Blogger is the biggest pain when it comes to uploading photos. That's the largest reason it has taken us so long to post an update about it. If you want to check out our vacation photos, you can do so at Sarah's flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/88306486@N00/
  

• I, along with several of my girlfriends here in Houston, am completely obsessed with the Twilight books. We realize we're a little old for it and that it is a silly obsession, but it's been really fun passing the books around and comparing tales of not eating and sleeping while we read them. We're going to the midnight premier of the movie on Nov. 20th. We wouldn't normally be that crazy, but Catherine is leaving for her Spain vacation the next day and we don't want to leave her out! It should be interesting, since I have to got to work the next day, but I've done worse before (like the time I got the 7th Harry Potter book and stayed up until 4AM reading it, I may have a problem).
  

• Kellen bought me a fancy camera for my birthday. Here's a video I made with it, it is admittedly rough, but illustrates our idiot dog well:

• Coming up, our friend Jamey is moving in with us for a few months while her fiance learns the ropes of his new engineering job here in Houston. We're jazzed to have her around.

• The holidays should be fun. We don't really have a plan for Thanksgiving yet, but for Christmas we'll be in the Northwest, getting our visit on.
  

• Everything else is rather status quo, my job is fine, Kellen's school is good, the dogs are happy, our friends are great, our family is in good health.
  

We'll update again soon!

Canoe, full steam ahead.

Well, there has been some progress on the canoe as of late. I know, we haven't posted any pictures from Switzerland, mainly 'cause we are just too damn lazy. The fiberglass arrived by UPS today, so, I got all excited and managed to successfully lay up the first coat by myself, all after getting home from school!

Shaping the outside stems with a spokesheave.

Looking down at the "football" after the first coat of epoxy.

Looking down the bilge

Stem (fiberglass will be trimmed after epoxy sets up)

Hurricane Ike Images

I (Sarah) am safe, y'all. Kellen's safe, too, but he spent the whole of Hurricane Ike safely ensconsed in Switzerland. This post is mostly for Kellen's benefit, so he can see what things look like over here.
We still don't have any power. I am at a friends house, they're one of the lucky few households that have regained electricity. They were nice enough to let me use their internet, so I thought I'd use the opportunity to post some photos from the storm and aftermath. Once my power is up and running, I plan to write a nice full post about my experience. But for now, enjoy the photos.

See, here's me safe and sound, standing in front of the flooded bayou with Cara.

Paul and Cara's backyard, a little bit of their fence got broken, it shouldn't be too hard to fix.

Memorial Drive, under water.

A busted out building next door to Paul and Cara's house.

The glass in the street from the busted building.

The Texaco station by our house.

Our backyard.

A Shell Station hurt pretty badly by the storm.

Our front yard and driveway.

IKE!

Well Ike is looming, heading straight for Houston.  For any of you who may be concerned, don't worry - we should be fine.  Kellen is in Switzerland right now and I am here on my own (with the dogs, of course).  My plan is to secure things here at the homestead and then hunker down at Paul and Cara Bovet's house (by order of the City of Houston, if you don't need to evacuate, don't).  They live in a nice, new, sturdy house which should withstand the storm well.  We will likely be without power for some time after the storm.  I'll have my phone with me, though, and cell coverage is usually one of the first things up!

Just Beachy

We escaped from the city this last weekend and headed to the beach! We rented a house in Surfside with a bunch of our friends and spent the whole weekend goofing off. It was pretty awesome. We did a bunch of different things:

We barbequed.

(Paul, Kellen, and Ben surveying their masterpieces)

We gleefully ate the hot dogs off the barbeque.

(Ben enjoying a dogger)


We read some great literature.

(Me, Catherine and Becky indulging in some chick lit)

We did some damage on the waves.

(Me, Kellen, Ben, Dave and Paul trucking out to the water)


We napped.

(Dave kickin back)


We played some beach games...

(Kellen pitching the wiffle ball, Brad looking on from 2nd base)


...and some indoor games, too.

(the guys getting taken for a ride by our resident card shark Brad)


We generally relaxed our butts off.

(Kellen and I hanging out on the couch, sandy and salty and actually pretty gross)

The heat! Oh God, the heat!

It is hot in Houston.

Yeah Edouard!

Tropical Storms are great! Our best days in Houston have been those blessed by tropical storms. The reason for this is really quite simple, its not insufferably hot! Tropical storm Edouard turned out to be nothing more than a typical winter day in the NW - well, it was a bit warmer, in the 70's, but still...it rained, and there was some wind. Whats great is that the news media and government panic, businesses and schools close down and everyone hunkers in. AWESOME!! Sarah didn't have to go to work, I didn't have to go into the lab, it was the coolest its been in a month, no traffic, best air quality in a month, shit...I want more tropical storms!

Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog

Everyone check it out. I heart Neil Patrick Harris, I always have.

http://www.drhorrible.com/

Watching this will change your life.

Canoe, cont....

Ah yes, well, work has continued on the canoe...albeit slowly. I've finished stripping one side of the canoe and successfully(?) cut the center line last night. Hmm...I'm not entirely sure that the center line is straight...which it should be....hmm...


I've put 2 strips on the other side thus far, which is pretty fun because each piece needs to be accurately mitered and beveled to match the opposing strip. Hopefully in about 10 days time I'll be done with this stripping nonsense and continue on with fairing and shaping the hull.

Its RAINING outside....man I love hurricanes. One thing about the hurricane though, it lowers the temp down to the low 80's....a nice break from the triple digits we've been experiencing as of late (heat index's in the 110's!!!).

High gas prices = change in habits

The price of oil is high. Unprecedentedly high. Even higher than in the late 70's (even when we adjust for today's dollars). There are many reasons for this, but honestly, the heaviest hitter is supply and demand. Our demand for oil is higher than ever, and the supply side cannot increase as much as we want in the amount of time we need. Thus, the best thing we (everyone) can do is try to conserve and demand less.

We thought we'd share with you a couple of the small ways Kellen and I are trying to be better. I've been wanting to put together a post at some point that talks about why oil and gas prices are what they are, what the oil companies are doing about it, and maybe tie in a little of what I do for a major oil company. But that will take me a while (I want to make sure I cite credible sources and provide links for more information). For now, the Springer quest to reduce our oil consumption and thus alleviate some of the guilt we walk around with.

Carpooling and Public transportation:

Yes, before now we were not utilizing public transport enough. In my defense, we only live 9 miles from where I work and any mode of public transport would require me to drive at least 2 or 3 miles to the park and ride and would then take me twice as long to get to work. Kellen's in the same boat (although in the winter and spring he rides his bike the 9 miles to school, right now it is too hot and thunderstormy to depend on that method). However, with one of us driving the dodge pickup, the diesel miles start adding up. So now, Kellen drives me to work in the morning in our relatively fuel efficient car (which we'd like to trade in for a hybrid sometime), then continues on the 2 miles to school. In the evening I ride the light rail to the park and ride and Kellen picks me up on his way home. He doesn't pick me up at work in the afternoon because downtown traffic is awful. So this approach effectively halves our daily gas/diesel use and we get to spend commuting hours in the car together rather than grinding our teeth at Houston traffic alone (which is a huge bonus for our sanity and relationship). Now this may change at some point, but I think that finding ways to conserve require flexibility, right?
(one note, though. We still drive a ton because this is Houston and it pretty much defines "urban sprawl". But we're trying to cut down.)

Reusable shopping bags:

Yes, I know you've all heard this one before, but we are complete converts. The hardy cloth bags can fit way more groceries and they can be slung over the shoulder so you can carry more at once, making the loading and unloading process easier. We were generally getting about 10-12 plastic grocery sacks a week (because you can only get a couple cartons of yogurt and maybe some bread in one bag), so we're saving there. Plastic is a petroleum product, so just these little things can contribute to cutting down on demand.

Any other ideas for us?

Coffee table completed

Finally finished the coffee table that I started some time ago. Overall I'm happy with the results, couple of spots I'm not too proud of, but, what can you do.

Ebony accents hide the screws which attach the breadboard ends to the top.

Table is made entirely of white oak (except for the black ebony accents).

Through tenons were pretty fun. For the finish I applied boiled linseed oil and topped it off with a good waxing.

Back from Field Camp

Yes, I am in fact back from Field Camp. It was a good time, the ending of course is bittersweet. Made a few new friends and learned a thing or two about western Cordillera geology but was really missing the wifey. Glad to be back with the ole' lady, but god damn, its hot in Houston. Almost forgot how hot it gets here in the summer. Oh well.

A view of Beartooth Butte. As you can see, the area was still shedding the last bits of snow after a pretty good winter.

My proteges from left to right: Joe Miller, Jarratt Kelso and Adrienne Gittins. Kelso will start graduate school this coming fall at UH, so, I had to give him a considerable amount of s***. We are at Yellowstone in this photo. We didn't spend much time at Yellowstone, just drove though the park on our way to the Grand Tetons.

Kellen's Home!

He got back Wednesday. It feels like he's been gone forever. I'm very happy to have him home.

Our wedding anniversary was last Sunday, we've been married for one year! Thanks to everyone who called or sent notes. We have very fond memories of our wedding day, in large part because we have awesome friends and family in our lives.

WALL-E

Y'all. I saw WALL-E last night and haven't been so charmed in maybe ever. Seriously. I'm not usually much of an animated movie buff, but WALL-E is probably one of the best movies I've ever seen. Maybe I'm raising expectations too high, but I don't think I am. It is just really really good.

OK, last one.

Me posing in front of an anticline.

This is my last photo post, promise. This post should be one top of the page, so if you're just arriving at the site, be sure to scroll down to my first July 5th post as it explains the stories behind all these photos. I just wanted to throw in these last two which actually have me in them so you would know that I was there in Spain.

This is me with some of the other girls on the trip. They are Heather, Keenah, Ashley and Amanda. We're at that cool castle.

More Spain pictures

I like this image because it shows the verdant green farm land of the area. A very pastoral scene.

The town of Ainsa. Built c. 1000. Awesome. The buildings are built out of the world-class turbidites exposed in the area. The pavers they use for steps in the town are covered in trace fossils, to add traction to the slippery rock.

Out to dinner in a medieval cellar. Food was good, wine was better.

Folds, faults and progressive unconformities, oh my!

The little town of Riglos. We drank some really good wine there.

Spain Photos

The class checkin out some sweet salt detachments.

A medieval castle. It's really neat inside, I'll probably get some photos of it into the next post. My favorite part, almost no other tourists! That's a hard thing to accomplish in Europe over Memorial day weekend.

Some of the cool people on the trip with me. I like this photo, it looks like it could be in a catalogue. If everyone was wearing Chevron shirts this could go in our recruiting materials. Look at all the young good looking diverse people we have working for us, etc. See everyone wearing jackets? It was deliciously cold that week, I was in heaven.

A hermitage built on the top of mountain. There are a lot of these, we decided that Spain had a lot of hermits in its day. This was a good solid hike we made one day to check out the folds on the other side. You can just see the sweet angular unconformity to the left of the hermitage.

Our friend Pauly, who has made a couple of appearances on this blog, so I thought I'd throw him in for continuity's sake. Pauly was on the trip as well.

Report on Spanish Adventures!

Hello sadly neglected blog, I've missed you! You want to finally hear about Spain, huh? Well here you go.

I (Sarah) got the opportunity to spend the last week of May in Spain and it was awesome. The trip was a Chevron field course where geologists in the company get to see field analogues to some of the subsurface rocks we work with for our jobs. This particular course was looking at growth structures in a compressional setting to learn about how you can use growth strata to constrain time of migration and trapping of hydrocarbons.

Some of the gorgeous rocks we looked at. This is a tower of conglomerate.

We went to the Pyrenees mountains in the north of Spain, technically Catalonia (Catalonians hate to be called Spanish, I guess). We were pretty rural so didn't see much of Barcelona. But there is some incredible hiking to be had in that countryside, as well as some neat medieval towns and castles.

OK, I can't get stupid blogger to allow me to upload any more photos. This will have to be followed immediately by a post full of pictures. There's not too much more to say, I ate and drank my weights worth of delicious food and red wine. There were some really great folks on the trip and I had a great time hanging out with them. There's honestly nothing bad I can say about northern Spain and all its glory.

Where are we? What are we doing? What's going on?

Is there confusion about where Kellen and I are at the moment? If any of you have managed to stay abreast of what we're doing these days, you are sharp. We've both been a little two-ships -passing-in-the-night lately, I miss my husband!

To recap: Today, I just got back from a week in Angola for a workshop. Shortly before that I was in Spain for a week learning about growth structures in the Pyrenees mountains. Next week I'll be here in Houston but the week after I'll be in Richmond, CA for a week of cross-functional training.

Kellen is in Montana TAing field camp for the next month. He was supposed to be going to Tibet for July and August but the Chinese government is denying travel visas until the Olympics are over. So instead Kellen is trucking around in Montana. In September he's heading out to the Alps (mostly Switzerland and Italy) for field work.

Angola was all right, mostly you just end up waiting around all the time. Since you're not allowed to walk anywhere you have to take a shuttle everywhere and so you stand outside for two hours waiting for the shuttle which will take another hour to transport you to the office, which is a half mile away. By then it's almost lunch time so you have to go wait for another shuttle to take you to lunch. I know that sounds bizarre, but it's true.

Going to blog about Spain very soon.

Field Camp

After the painfully long 28 hours of driving we finally arrived in Red Lodge, Montana, the first stop for the University of Houston's geology field camp. The drive up wasn't too bad, Kansas has that classic running-on-the-treadmill feel that makes you want to give up living, aside from that, it went smoothly. The first night we stayed in Wichita Kansas at a hotel and the second night we camped at a KOA in Casper Wyoming.

Thats our fearless leader? Thats the mens washroom in the background which, to put mildly, is a bit interesting.

View looking up at the "high rent" district. Thats where the faculty gets to stay. They have their own bathrooms complete with showers and heat!
These are the 2 study halls. This is where late night report writing and map completion takes place.

A nice look at some of the geology the students will be mapping. We are mapping in Elk Basin, Wyoming, which is dominated by Laramide deformation. This is a view of a limb of a doubly-plunging anticline.

Students lookin' at the outcrop!

As far as field camps go, this one is pretty plush. I'm used to camping and cooking all of our own meals, but not here. We have cabins, cooks, study halls, limited internet access...all the comforts of home, almost. The cabins don't have heat, and, well, its been pretty darn cold here in southern Montana. Nights have been below freezing and daytime temps haven't risen above 55. Needless to say, many students have been complaining about the cold. To their credit, when we left Houston it was 105 on the heat index, so, its been a bit of an abrupt change. The food has been surprisingly amazing! Breakfast generally consists of cereal and 2 hot items such as pancakes, french toast, hashbrowns, sausage or eggs. Lunch is brown bag style. They set out meats, cheeses, PB & J, etc. and you pack your lunch before leaving for the field. Dinner has been phenomenal. Everything from burgers and sausages to burritos! Cookies, ice cream, brownies, carrot cake are the desserts we've had thus far. All the food is good ole' home cookin'. Nothing is store bought and the lady that makes the desserts definitely knows what shes doing.

What the hell am I doing here? Well, I'm TAing field camp, so, I help the students in the field. I've had to do a little grading, which consumes quite a lot of time, but overall my duties have been pretty easy. Basically I just go out, map the area so I can intelligently help the students, and help students!

There will be something coming soon...I promise!

Spain was amazing and I plan to put together a post that does it justice, but am heading to Angola again tomorrow and won't have time until I get back. So stay tuned and you'll get to hear all about both trips! Kellen is in Montana TAing field camp until July, so you won't be hearing from him for a while either. In the meantime, here is a picture of me kissing a fish.