Out-fitting my bike, etc

I just got the world's dorkiest side mirror for my bike. Let me tell you what....

...this thing is BIG. But it got great reviews online for making people feel really safe...and that is all that matters. And now with the shiny NEW helmet Twila got me, I'm gonna be going pro (hehe). We are even going to a free bike maintenance class tonight at our local REI. Its probably going to be TOO basic for Bradley but I signed him up to be my moral support. Plus, once we take the basic one we can both go to the advanced class together. I am hoping I'll learn how to take care of the chain and fix a flat mostly.
We may bike to the farmer's market this weekend. The CSA we are in has a break for these three weeks in August before the Fall session starts, so we wont be getting any of our usual fresh farm veggies again until September. Farmer's Market: WE NEED YOUR VEGGIES!

In other news work has been busy this week but productive. I'm getting all positive feedback (for once) on the project that I'm hoping will end up being my Master's Project for school. And I think my boss is encouraging me to submit an abstract on it to go to the Society of Toxicology conference again next year. I'm not sure if that will end up happening, especially since I was reluctant to go again at first. When I went to SOT 2012 in March in San Francisco it wasn't the greatest experience (even though my poster session was great, it was probably the best part). Actually being alone in San Francisco was a lot scarier than I'd imagined it would be, and I was alone most of the trip (not to mention on the first day after walking the Golden Gate Bridge I got terribly TERRIBLY lost in the city by taking multiple wrong busses in attempt to get back to my hotel and ended up having to hail a cab because it was dark outside...no one ever said I was good with navigation).

In spite of that, the thought of going to SOT 2013, which is in San Antonio, is kind of ... enticing? Plus, work will most likely pay for all of it. Maybe this year I'll be a little more comfortable with the whole experience, since I've done it before. Maybe I'll do a little more networking. At the very least I'll get to go to a city and state I've never been to before.

We'll see if I can put together an abstract by September that is legitimate enough to be accepted.

School is also starting back up again soon. I'm sad because I feel like I didn't do as much as I wanted to this summer (isn't it always that way?)

But I am also a little excited. I'll be taking environmental law, an intro Geographic Information Systems class with a lab, and water hydrology with a lab. And I'll be working 15 hours a week, which a portion of will be dedicated to my master's project. I'm also TA-ing Air Quality Management on Monday evenings.

The realization that the rest of my life is happening is frightening though. I sometimes wish I could go back to my senior year in highschool when anything seemed possible. But in reality that was probably equally scary at the time. To quote Joni Mitchell --

"We can't return we can only look behind from where we came, and go round and round and round in the circle game..."