It's Official!

I am now the Garden Coordinator for the PSU Community Garden! Hooray! Apparently I was voted in at the RHA (Residents' Housing Association) meeting yesterday without my knowledge, and I only found out today when I met with the president! :P So now I'm part of the RHA Executive Board (ooh, all four of us), and I have a whole bunch of responsibilities and privileges and an extra $50/month! (Yeah, I'm definitely not doing it for the money... if you just count the five office hours I have to have each week, that comes out to $2.50/hour, and that's not even considering all of the outside work and time spent in the garden itself.) Anyway, that was the exciting news that was supposed to become official last week but got delayed. Sorry for keeping you in suspense! :P

Check it Out

I made Alice a harness the other day, so we can take her outside and let her run around without worrying about her running away. She doesn't really like getting into it, but once it's on she pretty much just forgets about it. She doesn't like the leash, though!

I have been absolutely loving the weather here this last week. It's been bright and sunny and brilliant out. Looking out the window, it looks like spring, but when you go outside you realize that it's very nearly freezing outside, and your breath comes out in wonderful soft puffs in front of you. I just got back from rapper practice, biking across the Hawthorne Bridge. The clock display at Seattle's Best Coffee downtown said it was 1°C out, but since it was pretty much an uphill ride all the way home I was quite nice and toasty warm by the time I got home. What wonderful biking weather! I'm definitely enjoying dancing again, too. It's encouraging me to get in shape again, and it's a great excuse to ride my bike. So many dual benefits - having fun and staying in shape, which encourages me to have fun and stay in shape! What could be better? :)

In other news of note, I turned in all of my graduate applications this afternoon -- only to check my mail this evening to find my last official transcript had arrived. I had turned in my PSU application without it! Ooops! Fortunately, it's only my Portland Community College transcript and only represents 14 units, and I can probably go back and turn it in late and still have it included in my file. But, boy, did I feel stupid! I was juggling so many transcripts for the separate applications that I thought I had them all, but I had the unofficial PCC transcript for my departmental application, *not* the official one for the university application. Go ahead and tease me, I already feel dumb. :}

Tomorrow afternoon, some more exciting news should hopefully become official, so I will post about that soon. I like exciting news. :)

It's Starting...

The other day I recieved two pieces of mail - a notification that my diploma would be ready to pick up on March 1, and my very first copy of PSU's alumni magazine (creatively titled PSU Magazine). That was interesting and coincidental in itself. But maybe not so coincidental. Last night I received a phone call. My caller ID display said "*Telefund9" and I wondered, now who could that be? And who was it indeed but a PSU freshman calling from the PSU Foundation asking me to pledge my support of PSU with an alumni donation! Boy, these people catch on quick! :P Upon reviewing our conversation after the fact, I realized that I should have told the girl that I am showing my support for PSU by continuing to take classes and pay my tuition, fees, and housing bills! But I didn't think of it at the time.

Not-So-Big News, but Still Very Happy-Making

I have new shelves! The space above my bed has been blank and empty since I moved in, because I couldn't think of anything worthy of occupying it. Well, John finally came up with the answer -- plants! Hooray! It's nice to have a place to show off my plants (where Alice won't chew them up, as I discovered her doing to the poor little spider plant the other day), and it's wonderful waking up to greenery (and purplery - that tumbling plant is magnificent!) overhead and all around. Anyway, it makes me very happy, so I thought I would share it.

Paul is starting some heirloom tomatoes from seeds he saved from our tomatoes last year, and he's going to bring them over to grow on my windowsill, since I get more light (and have more room) than he does. So I'll have more little plants starting! Hooray for more plants!

Big News, Part I

Alright, since I don't seem to have the time to write up all my big news in one big post (and you probably wouldn't want to spend the time reading it anyway), I'm going to do it in installments.

Part I: I'm applying to grad school! In particular, to PSU's Master of Public Administration (MPA) program. I didn't even really know about this department until starting this grant writing class, because they don't offer undergraduate degress, but when I discovered it I realized that the MPA program integrates a whole lot of things that I've been interested in for a long time, all rolled into one degree. My plan is to pursue a dual concentration in Non-profit Management and Natural Resources Policy and Administration, so I can hopefully find good work with an environmental non-profit. And possibly, someday, to start my own. But that's the subject of the next Big News post. :)