578 slides yesterday and 596 more today.  

I watched a movie call the Mission yesterday with Matt.  It was really good.  You could tell it was made in the '80s though!  We did lit of the hours together too, which is pretty much one of my favorite things to do.  Matt's a great guy and he seems to have life pretty well figured out.  I bet he might become a priest someday.    

 I went to church yesterday and the priest gave another fantastic homily.  It was about faith again and he had a couple good points.  The first was about the second reading...St. Paul talking about how he asked God three times to take away a certain affliction that he didn't like to accept about himself.  God told Paul that "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."  In other words, have faith that your weaknesses or hardships can be overcome with the grace of God.  Accept them as a burden that will eventually be transformed into goodness by the power of God.  The priest then talked about cradle Catholics (like me) and how we should never stop growing in our knowledge or deepening our faith.  It's like in science, the more you know; the more you realize how much you don't know and the more questions you have about your religion and how God wants you to live.  

Speaking of science...my brain hurts.  Today, I saw 435 slides of every aliment of wild animals known to man kind.  Did you know that penguins are highly susceptible to malaria?  Well now you do.  And did you know snakes have a splenopancreas?  Ya, and apparently people frown upon surgeons that take it out thinking its a tumor.  

Anyhow, enough being nerdy.  Here's some photos from the mountains!  Branden took me to Estes Park and the edge of Rocky Mtn National Park yesterday.  We drove through this really deep canyon of the way there that had enormous cliffs and some little waterfalls.  

We stopped to take a few pics at the Stanley Hotel.  The Shining was written and filmed there...creepy!  It was really pretty though!  

It's a beautiful day out!  

 Old town--blocks upon blocks of little restaurants and shops galore.  Branden told me that Fort Collins has the highest number of restaurants per capita than any other city in CO.  Most of the restaurants have patios with dogs tied outside them.  

 Matt and Branden worked together at an event center last night and they brought me along to hang out with them.  A hispanic girl (in the blue dress below) was having her Quincenera party and it was great!  Hispanics here and in New Mexico have a tradition of throwing huge parties for girls when they turn 15.  They are like wedding receptions only they can get huge in New Mexico--Matt told me that he heard of one having 5K people.  They had a live band last that played Spanish music and everyone was great dancers.  Lots of stilettos, mini skirts, and cowboy hats.  Some of the guys would wear really long, pointed boots (rather amusing) and some would wear shiny rosaries.  They played a few mainstream songs and I managed to drag Branden onto the dance floor once.  I was glad that I'm not blond b/c I already didn't fit in, being taller and paler than any girl there.  I had a great time though!  Probably ate a few too many biscochitos (New Mexican cinnamon shortbread cookies).  

 

Went to a park with my friend Matt and shot this pic. I've been just the right amount of busy lately because I've had enough time to read my bible and work out...which makes me happy! I've been able to go to daily mass too. The 4th of July was weird here because there's a burn ban so I didn't get to see fireworks this year--I just went to a park with my friends Mark and Betsy. Yesterday, I met with the prion prof here and he said that working in that area doesn't make your PhD take any longer than normal.  And they get plenty of NIH money because prion protein misfolding is similar to that in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.  Matt invited me to dinner at his friend Benita's place yesterday too. She was an incredible cook! She taught me how to make this awesome spinach and chicken dish and it was like watching a live cooking show. Benita's super nice. I thought it was funny that she is very Catholic but all her roommates are lesbians. Her bf and friend from Hong Kong came for dinner too. Her Chinese friend was really cool. One interesting thing she said was that she lived in Virginia for a couple of years but didn't fit. She said people there weren't outwardly prejudice against her for being asian but she could feel the difference between people there and here. I would believe it. And she wants to be a vet too so we talked about dogs and such. I went to a park with Brenden today and had a lot of laughs. He's from here so he knows a lot about the town. And it actually rained a lot today! I must have brought t storms with me from IA. Maybe it will help with the fires in the mountains.

 Hmm..what should I draw?

This is what I've come up with so far.  It's a good start.  Eventually I'll paint it.  Melissa--I will prolly give it to you if you like it cuz your currently my closest horse-loving friend and I love you!

 Sand drawing Betsy made.  

 Ahh! Puffy cat!

 Cutest house ever.  

 Matt and the puffy cat.  

 Funky apartments.  $3K/month rent--ya I think I'll just settle for a picture.  

 Horsetooth park right outside of Fort Collins.  

 Brenden and me.

 Pretty!

Since it's 1 am and I just got home, this is going to short.  Check out this song...I love it so much!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fh_fSNz6NvQ&noredirect=1
This one is also magnificent:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xqjgzrZTPw&feature=related

I'm going to sleep well tonight!  CSU has a super high case load.  We did 17 necropsies today!  And yoga was intense!  I'm glad no one told me it was 105 degrees in the room and that we were doing 90 minutes of one of the hardest kind of yoga (Bikram) until we were done.  My muscles were twitching like mad at times and I was far from perfect but I was told that I did great for a newbie.

Also exciting--I just found out that I'm meeting with the guy that made the feline leukemia virus vaccine on Thursday.  Maybe he's interested in me because he studies chronic wasting disease too and I've done prion-related work before.  We'll see!  I'm really liking what I hear about CSU's program so far.  And they get so many cases because their d lab isn't separate from their path dept.

Funny story--some lady brought in her pet racoon from Wyoming and she had done most of the necropsy already.  I really don't know what to think of that b/c she had no medical background at all.  We just got the racoon and some organs in baggies labeled with things like spleen? or some where just labeled correctly.  Apparently she had a Merk manual and is definitely a do-it-yourselfer, not afraid of a little blood and guts type.

Yep, still loving Fort Collins!

Apparently there is a counterpart here to the Pink Beaver in Ames.  Very amusing.  

I made a couple of friends today!  Matt and Branden.  I snapped a shot of Matt's dog.  And I am going to go do yoga with Branden tomorrow.  I've actually never done yoga before, so this should be interesting.  

I went to church today and really liked the homily.  The gospel was about the woman that was sick for years but was healed when she touched Jesus' clothes because she believed that it would heal her.  The priest said that the woman had been disappointed for years by doctors and that her faith in God had grown larger  as her disappointments accumulated.  As times got worse, her hope and faith grew ever stronger.  And then the priest talked about how he had a similar experience when a moose hit him when he was driving and he was paralyzed for a while.  I was like you hit a wha?  You were paralyzed?  Pretty amazing.  

This is the view right outside where I'm staying.  Beautiful!  I went for a run after church and I have one word for you--hypoxia.  I could only go a couple of miles, so I'll probably have a few more rbcs by the time I leave.  Apparently Lance Armstrong has a house in a little town outside of Fort Collins.  Now I know why.  In fact, I'm pretty sure almost everyone has a bike in this town.  I got one for free from the "bike library" today--only in CO!