Friday, May 29, 2009

Four Years

What's your address? seems like a funny thing to ask your husband the day before your fourth anniversary, but that's exactly what I asked last night! Nathan started at Pipestone National Park on Wednesday and is busy learning all about sacred rocks.

Last Thursday I DID pass my PMP Certification exam, so I am officially a PMP! (I always pronounce that "PiMP" in my head, which makes me chuckle.)

Three weeks ago, I finished my Hiking Challenge strong with a hike along the Round-Up Horse trail, Jones Creek, and the Loop Road for about 6 miles.


I didn't see anything out of the ordinary: some horses, but no bison on the trail. When I finished, the entry above mine in the register said they saw a scorpion. When I got back to the Visitor Center, I found out a guy had brought in a picture of a Rattlesnake sunning itself from the day before. I was not quite as lucky to see such exciting things!


Nathan's brother, Justin, graduated on May 16th and we went to Madison, WI to partake in the festivities. Lucky for us, we didn't have to be crammed into the Kohl Center waiting for 2,000 names to be read off. Nope, the LaFollette School of Public Affairs has their own, intimate ceremony in the Assembly Chamber of the Wisconsin Capital. We were in and out in an hour - now that's what I call a graduation!

Justin and his Wizard Sleeves

It also gave me a chance to marvel at how amazing their capital is (take note, North Dakota!) - a fact that I just don't think I appreciated as much on our 4th grade trip to visit it. Now that I've been a few places and have seen works of art like St. Peter's Basilica in Rome and Chichen Itza in Mexico, I agree that Wisconsin's capital really is something special. And to think - you can walk in any time from the Farmer's Market on Saturday just to use the bathroom!


It was really good to see all of Nathan's family. We almost didn't, save the last-minute trip to Milwaukee to see Nathan's mom. We even got the chance to stop into Buraka for some delicious East African food.

Which reminds me! I had a chat with one of my African Wildlife Foundation buddies and found out that they have not only secured funding for the Eco-Lodge I worked on, but they plan to start construction in June. Who wants to come with me to the Grand Opening?!

Monday, May 18, 2009

Munchies

I owe everyone who reads this blog some great pictures from my final hike (yes, I DID complete the hiking challenge last weekend) and Madison (my brother-in-law's graduation), but you won't get those until next week.

This week, I'm studying for my Project Management Professional Certification (a.k.a my PMP credentials). This is something I've been working on since last December. In order to even apply you need a full 4500 hours of Project Management experience and some education. I got that taken care of and my application was accepted without audit (phew!). Now comes the fun part - I have to take a 4-hour, 200 question test with laughably ambiguous questions based on 100's of Project Management, Management, and other resources. Ok, so it won't be that hard - 80% of the test is based on the Project Management Bible (Project Management Body of Knowledge - PMBOK) and there are a lot of books out there that help you prepare for the exam without reading every last reference resource. I started studying for this in February and am finally taking the exam on Thursday.

I have Monday-Thursday off and, although, I visited my alma mater this weekend, I forgot rule number one about exams - you need snacks. Exams were always my favorite part of the semester (wait, don't leave - hear me out!) - you got to sleep in most days, no more classes, you ONLY had to worry about a handful of exams, the dining halls served delicious hot breakfasts for $1.09, and once you finished each exam - YOU WERE DONE FOR GOOD! Nothing hanging over your head - free to move on to another painful semester - or worse - the real world. Ahhh, those were the days!

Saturday, May 9, 2009

The Big City


Although I haven't been blogging, I have kept up with my hiking regimen. Tuesday, I went into the park to do the Jones Creek Trail, but instead ran into a bison on the trail and decided to go bluff-climbing instead. Wednesday & Friday I had to walk around town due to events later those nights, and Thursday you're about to hear about.


Thursday Nathan had to go to Bismarck, which is 2 hours away, to test out on CPR and First Aid, so I decided to take the day off and go with him. On a whim, we decided to stop and take a closer look at Salem Sue, the world's largest Holstein cow. We found out from a friend at the park that New Salem had a choice between building a Recreation Center and erecting this gigantic, fiberglass cow - they chose the cow and those rumors I've heard of the veins are all true.

Even though I've only been here for two weeks, it was kind of fun to drive around Bismarck looking at the giant footprint of corporate America once again. We mourned the loss of cute little shops everywhere and then stopped at Kohl's to buy shoes and were excited to see a Coldstone across the street.

Before lunch, we decided to check out the North Dakota capital building, whose nickname is the "Skyscraper on the Plains". Maybe I've been spoiled by Madison's outstanding capital, but this is not a capital building. It did have a nice mall leading up to it, but you had to have the courage to take your eyes off the giant, evil scar plastered against the beautiful blue sky in the middle of North Dakota.

Across the street was the North Dakota Heritage Center. It was free, so we decided to try it out. Unlike the capital, the Heritage Center was packed full of some interesting things - a dinosaur & bird section, sections for each type of people living in North Dakota, and, Nathan's favorite, the special Cold War exhibit where we found out that Medora was pretty safe as far as Soviet targets go - those were all in the middle and Eastern parts of North Dakota. We also learned that a desk and a few bricks will keep you safe in the event of a nuclear holocost. (Really! Just ask the government!)


For lunch, I was forced to go to Famous Dave's despite a restaurant called Space Aliens being right down the street.

On our way home, we decided to take the scenic route North and visit the Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site. Of all of the native cultures I've ever learned about, the Knife River Mandan Indians have got to have the most ingenuity. They made Earth Lodges, which were constructed of a layer of timber, then straw, then mud on the outside - far more sturdy than many of the houses in East Africa today. These lodges were usually about 40 feet in diameter and could fit giant families. They also made something I'd never seen before: bull boats. Made out of one buffalo hide, these round boats actually float!


We finished with a walk down their path to visit the actual village where Sakakawea lived, which is now just a field, but interesting to imagine yourself so close to the Lewis & Clark expedition. It's not New York or Paris, but this little trip to Bismarck, was enough excitement for me!

Monday, May 4, 2009

Town Hall Meeting


Yesterday was another fabulous day for hiking. Today was not so good as I was forced to have a short walk in the rain around Medora...again.


On Sunday, I hiked up a section of the Lower Talkington trail just off the Loop Road. Another perfect day bordering on hot. I actually didn't see any animals on the whole trail, unless you count the grasshoppers that were constantly making me think I heard rattlesnakes. The trail ended up on top of a small plateau covered in grass and surrounded by bluffs. I suspect I went between 4 & 5 miles.


On the way home, I found a band of 15 horses, among them four cute, little foals.


Medora had its yearly kick-off Townhall meeting tonight. To entice people to hear about what's new for the upcoming tourist season, the town buys everyone dinner and then sits you down to hear from the various business owners. Tonight we got BBQ sandwiches, chips, fruit, and macaroni salad, all served in the gym of the Medora Community Center.

At 6pm we filed into an auditorium large enough to seat all of Medora's 100 permanent residents and heard about everything that could possibly go on in Medora. From the brand new Medora Stampede Rodeo (still looking for actors for the shot-out if you're interested) to the fact that the Chateau de Mores just got some new patio furniture. Yee-haw! In reality, it was kind of nice to be in the loop. My only disappointment was that the duo introducing the pricing scheme for the Medora Musical didn't get up on stage to make their announcement in song. Would something like this performed with clog dancing really have been so hard?

So come to Medora
For fauna & flora
That ain't no fedora
That's a cowboy hat!

We've got a great show
With pitchfork in tow
Better'n watchin corn grow
You won't wanna miss that!

I have less than a week here and now that I know what I'll be missing, I'm starting to wish I weren't.

Saturday, May 2, 2009

Hiking Challenge - Day 7

Finally, a gorgeous day! I was supposed to work today in exchange for getting next Thursday off for a trip to the "big city" (Bismarck), but as soon as I stepped outside after lunch all of my good intentions flew out the window.


I decided to do a longer section of the Upper Paddock Creek trail, which was about 6 miles round trip. The landscape was your typical TRNP badlands and the trail pretty much followed the creek the whole way. Despite that, I ended up going farther than I'd wanted due to the fact that I was constantly lost. This park has so many animal trails and sign posts on this route had been knocked over by bison in extremely unfortunate locations. Unfortunate if you mind tromping through tick country with sagebrush up to your belt, which I do not.

Moss Phlox
This is what hiking is supposed to be like! No snow, dirt trail, hot, but with a cool breeze, no people around, beautiful scenery, and happy exhaustion after the hike. I didn't see a lot of wildlife save a pack of four horses on my way out. Oh, and the tick that I found crawling on my dirty clothes in the bathroom. Its new home is now the wastewater treatment plant.

Coal Vein

Hiking & Karaoke


Today, I hiked and got over one of my greatest fears - singing in public! After work, Nathan and I went for a short hike since Valerie, the Park Superintendent wanted us to go 25 miles West to the town of Beach, ND to support her in a Karaoke contest at La Playa Mexican Restaurant that night.

On the East Side of the Park, there is an old Ranger Station that used to serve as the entrance to the park back in the 60's when there was no I-94 cutting through the area. The tiny building is still there, but there's almost no indication that there was a road or entrance there at any point.


The whole trail is through a prairie dog town and when we got to the old Station, we almost didn't see the lone buffalo on the other side using the fence as a scratching post to peel his thick winter fur off for spring.


When we got back, we headed almost immediately for La Playa. It has been Valerie's dream for the past year to place in a Karaoke Contest. She recently entered on a cruise and made it to the semi-finals, but wasn't able to pull off the win. Here in Beach, a tiny town of a couple thousand people, she had a chance....but she had to get past Nathan and I first. Yes, after my second daiquiri of the night, I decided I better enter myself in the contest as well. I always thought I'd need a lot of drinks to get up on stage and I found out that exact number tonight: three and the last one had to be STRONG. I can't sing, so I picked the song Killing Me Softly by The Fugees, which turned out to be the old version. It went pretty well - I didn't get booed off the stage like in Guitar Hero and although it's a pretty depressing song, everyone seemed pretty into it.

There were only nine entries, but I didn't have a chance - there were some really good acts. The winner? Yes! Valerie achieved one of her life goals and WON $50 with I Will Survive. My consolation prize? Nathan got the consolation prize for his rendition of Weird Al's Fat (a pretty bold move since he isn't nearly fat enough to make that as hilarious as it should be). Consolation equals last place, which means I got a higher score than him. How could I be upset with an outcome like that? Look out karaoke world, I doubt that will be my last act. I may be hooked!