Scavenger's Smoothie

Our bushes after a decent snowfall but before the "polar vortex" snow and cold blew in.

          Happy New Year!!  Welcome to 2014, a year that is full of promise to bring big and new adventures! I have entered my last semester of school, and hopefully this time I mean it.  By the end of May I should have my chemistry degree and be happily job hunting for a career that will have to force me to retire because I'll love my job so much.  That is the dream, after all.

Post "polar vortex."

          D and I split our break between our parents' houses: one week at his, one week at mine.  It was wonderful getting to spend time with family and friends playing games.  We've successfully broken in Settlers of Catan, Castle Panic, and Cards Against Humanity.  There weren't many days spent just relaxing and doing nothing.  Our best adventure of the break was heading to Silver Springs on a beautifully snowy day before the "polar vortex" snow and cold crashed in.

          My two favorite parts of Silver Springs are the spring and the lakes.  The spring stays green all year since the water coming from the ground is warm enough to sustain it.  The contrast of fresh greens and snow always pulls me in.  The lakes are also amazing throughout the seasons.  During warm seasons they can be an amazing turquoise and during long cold spells they can freeze over.  I discovered this for the first time years ago when I came out here for a walk with a friend.  We went after we'd had a really long cold spell and were amazed at all the ice fishermen and their ice huts.  It looked like the ice was at least eight inches thick on that day but we thought the fishermen were still nuts for going out to the center of these deep lakes.

Leaves gathered into the groove in the snow.

          This year D convinced me to get out on that ice.  We followed the footprints of a fisherman out to a hole in the ice to see that it was only about three to four inches deep this day which made us a little nervous.  But there were no creaking or groaning sounds like in the movies, and there were four or more men out on the ice and I trust that they know when it is safe to be out so much further than we went.  I still heard my Dad's disapproving voice in the back of my mind.

Out on Beaver Lake's icy cover.

          After playing on the ice and snow it was time to head home and warm up while playing some Minecraft before the snow storm really kicked into full blast.  I was tempted to head to a large, uncleared parking lot to do some donut practicing, but the call of warmth and home was too loud for us to ignore.

Even the Fox River has a nice thick cover on it.

          I just finished my first day back to class and I can tell that it will be a very interesting semester.  I am taking instrumental analysis which should provide a good interesting challenge as I learn more about analytical chemistry and how to use various new instruments.  I love playing with new "toys."  I should get to learn how to do mass spectrometry instead of just interpreting the results, and I am very eager to get to use a scanning electron microscope.  Then I will be furthering my knowledge of inorganic chemistry while looking further into using literature sources... I wonder how many journal articles I will read in my lifetime?  Definitely more than I am interested in.  And finally I'll be exploring biochemistry with a professor who promises to be a hoot and a half.  I have a feeling this wise owl is definitely going to give us our money's worth in challenges.  Today she used our own explanation of what a living thing is to nearly prove that a pen is alive.  How do you define what a living thing is?  When is something alive?  Is a virus alive?  Is a prion (whatever that is) alive?  I already have the textbook open and will be reading chapter one tonight.  I have a feeling I will be making lots of vocabulary flashcards this semester.

These Minecraft zombies are comforting each other as they ponder whether or not they are alive.

          Aside from classes and labs I'll be continuing my research.  I wrote a semester summary of what I did in the fall and that helped me really see what I've accomplished and what I still want to do to get more meaningful results.  Tomorrow after lab I will learn how to use the new laser and play with some more nanoparticles.  I love exciting those little buggers!

          There are two main downfalls to being back at school, though.  One is pretty obvious, D and I are separated once again in opposite directions as we begin this semester.  It was very nice getting to see him for a full two weeks over break.  Two is that I have yet to go grocery shopping and my fridge is nearly empty.  That is a bad place to be when you're craving something sweet and somewhat healthy (after all that yummy, heavy holiday food).  With a look around my pantry and freezer I was able to whip up a little something I call...

Scavenger's Smoothie

          It's a bit like a scavenger hunt.  You look through what you have and once you find things that ...might work together, well, just blend and drink up!  I had some leftover frozen smoothie blend (assorted frozen fruit essentially), half a can of mandarin oranges and their juice, and I threw in the leftover heavy whipping cream to make it more like a smoothie rather than just cold juice.  It blended very well and is quite tasty.  So there you go, craving a smoothie and don't have milk or yogurt or any other thickener?  Just wing it and maybe you'll luck out.

          I hope you had a wonderful holiday season and were able to stay warm if you're in the northern hemisphere and cool if you're in the southern half.  I don't think I've noticed readers in South America, but I hope you all survived that extreme heat you had while we were attacked by a "polar vortex" up here.  Good luck to all students, and to everyone else, try something new to make your day a little more special.