Lindsey

The biggest loser contest is officially over, so send me your percentage!
Final body weight / initial body weight or
Final body fat percentage / initial body fat percentage

you will get a percentage from that!

So I haven’t really let on how craazy and tumultous times have been in my academic situation right now.
Basically, one of my instructors is a pompous ass who finds reducing 24 year olds to shaking and/or tears enjoyable. Thankfully, I’m not on his list of people to ruin, but dealing with the screaming and the aftermath has not been fun.
Yesterday was a day of outbursts and obnoxiousness. This got said instructor yelled at by the director of the internship, who is also the one who prevented me from getting the MN job. This made the instructor furious, and he wrote us all an “apology” letter which was basically a 3000 word “I make no apology for the way I act, only an apology if you can’t handle it” letter bashing people within the class and saying how he felt the good students were being shafted by the other students for wasting time, resources, and his time. That came late last night. He also sent it to the director of the internship.
Then this morning we were giving blood in exchange for movie tickets for a study people were doing. The director of the internship got into an argument with one of the students he hates, in front of everyone, telling her she can’t use the recommendation letters he wrote for her, and all kinds of other childish remarks.
Then, the director refuses to allow us to the other lab to see an aborted fetus submitted for evidence. It sounds morbid and other kinds of personal feelings that many people probably are against, but it is a common piece of evidence in rapes, etc. So we all wanted to see it. And get some of our data that were running on instruments over there. He said no. Then we students were frothing at the mouth with rage, and I’m not sure whether permission was finally granted or what, but we went anyways.
So we get back and are working basically as paralegals for this case for a family the instructor is working with. Important, but not a good use of our time. Thats a whole other issue. The instructor comes back to meet with the director. The instructor gets ready to leave, telling us he will be back tomorrow and we will discuss how to finish the paralegal part, and so on. After he leaves, we are told by one of the people who work there to stay because the director wants to talk to us. Only seven of us stay, because the others were so annoyed. I wished I had left too. The director has decided the instructor is done with 7 days left in his part of the internship, the reports due, our data unfinished, mock court scheduled for next week, the paralegal business unfinished, and on and on. He says we are adults, but don’t ask questions about why. As if we have to. They had spent all day yesterday trying to get one of us to write a personal letter about the instructor so they could fire him, and the email this morning pushed one student over the edge and he said he couldn’t work with the instructor anymore. His misdeeds were listed in the email.
I tell this because I’m so stressed out right now, I can’t even imagine life for the next seven and a half weeks. I wish so bad I had been allowed to leave. This place is crazy, and full of crazy people. People where I’m from don’t act like brats at 70+ years of age.

So, I thought I would post briefs today.
I really like Diet Coke Plus. Vitamins, minerals, and no calories.
Biggest loser - i think a lot of people have hit the doldrums, two weeks to go. Push it!
I’m still sick and I hate it.
I forgot to mention that while at my foresnic science conference, saw the following forensic science-celebrities: Dr G, medical examiner, Dayle Hinman, Henry Lee, Micheal Baden, and Cyril Wecht. You may actually recognize some of those names if you watch court tv.
Otherwise, waiting for jobs and chugging along. I’m bored, angry, tired, and generally unhappy with my situation at this time. But there is always hope for that next email or the weekend.

If you know what song the title is from, I would be impressed.

Anyways, the last few weeks have been eventful.
The internship is going alright. There have been some expiration date issues and some schedule switching and confusion, but I feel like I’m getting some good hands on experience, I’m excited about my future career. I really like both parts we have done work in–DNA/Biology and Toxicology (drugs/poisons in biological matrices).

In further disappointment, the St. Paul positions required a start date in March, and the directors of the program decided it would be “detrimental to the program” to allow me to substitute the remaining weeks of the internship with on-the-job training. And it’s total BS, for sure. I could explain why I say that, but we will leave it at that. There is always a possibility of another position opening, but its better not to get my hopes up. I have applications out in Maryland, Arizona, Denver, and St. Louis. Honestly, I could picture myself in any of those areas. Maryland is along the ocean, Arizona is warm, and Denver and St. Louis are much closer to home than Philadelphia.

This week, I went to Washington D.C. for a forensic science conference. The hotel staff were inept and annoying, but the conference was great. Saw some gruesome and interesting presentations and had some fun with my classmates. We scientists with our morbid interests.

However, it was bad for my biggest loser weight loss. I had lost almost 8 pounds, but I put 3-4 back from eating out every meal. When you get reimbursed for meals, you eat things you’ve always wanted to try or are a little pricier than you would normally order. There are three weeks left in the contest (hint hint if I haven’t gotten your check) so I think I can get back down there plus some.

Giving up alcohol has been helpful for the weight loss and the pocketbook, but it also has helped physically. I feel better and we go to bed earlier, and so I think lent may help me long-term by lowering the frequency I drink, as well as the quantity on the occasions I do. I think Bryce agrees to a large degree. It may also be helping mentally, but it is hard to measure that.

Also, I think I am getting sick. My friend Megan and I were bed-buddies (not what you’re thinking!) in D.C., and she was hacking up both lungs the entire time. Now, I’m coughing with a sore throat and some congestion. Great.

So, as many of you know, at the beginning of the season, I decided that I needed to adopt a local team because I would not be able to get many of the Vikings games back here. After little to no mental exercise, it was obvious — the Giants. Why? Can’t stand the eagles. Can’t stand the Patriots. And, I felt Eli Manning was always getting picked on, like the dorky younger brother of Peyton that he is. And I felt bad for him. So, I got an Eli Manning jersey and have supported them every game except the Vikings/Giants game.

And guess what… I AM AWESOME! Clearly, I know how to pick them! Superbowl champions!!

Also today, start of the biggest loser contest! To enter, just email me at lindsey.nelsen.rausch@gmail.com. there is still time, then I will send out an email after a few days with an address to send the $5 entry fee. If you start late, that is ok too!

Well, first a bit of sad news… I did not receive the Bemidji position. Turns out they hired a person with “years of experience he couldn’t ignore”. If the entry-level trainee positions go to people with experience, finding a job could be tough. I am still waiting to hear from St. Paul, which has two openings, and I have some other prospects, although I am pretty sure they aren’t in Paula’s 5 hour limit.

I have created a webpage within my website for the competition. Click here. The start date has been pushed back until the first Monday in February so it doesn’t start on a weekend, especially Super Bowl weekend. It also coincides with Lent, so now may be the time to give up something related to this competition! The competition will run 6 weeks, and you can enter in one of two ways, or both and take whichever worked out better for you. These are discussed on the webpage above.

Since there is about one week left, now is the time to recruit friends and family so the prizes can be bigger. And if you don’t win a prize, there are other good things about having done the competition, and at $5, there’s not much to lose (pun!).

Also, congrats to the newest sister-in-law, Holli, and Miles on their wedding. It was a fun time and I’m glad everything went so smoothly for them. It was an honor to be part of, and I wish them the best. Enjoy Florida!

First off, I’d like to thank Dan for being the latest of our apartment guests that make sure we experience our city. I’m always up for taking someone for a good cheesesteak and an excuse to go out to a seafood restaurant. I hope he had a good time, and we now know an easy albeit slightly expensive way for anyone who visits to get to New York.

Also, yesterday was our 6 month anniversary, which everyone knows since Bryce posted about it. Opened one of our bottles of wine made for our wedding which we had designated for that day, and it was very good, less sweet and fuller bodied than when it was fresh. We have one more which is earmarked for our 1 year. My mom has a few bottles, she is undecided as to what to do with them, so we will see.

Well, here is my idea. I’m not sure how many people will be into, but I hope alot. A few years ago, Bryce and I had workout goals that had consequences for completing or failing them, and it was a great incentive. Mine was running a mile under 8 minutes and his was to put an inch of muscle on his arms, we both succeeded, and so we had a nice dinner somewhere. Last year, he had a biggest loser contest at work that was based on body fat percentages. My idea is to set up a six week biggest loser competition for anyone interested, have everyone contribute like 1 dollar or something to enter, and the winner gets a gift card somewhere with all the money entered. My one problem is for people like Bryce, whose goal would not be to lose weight, but to lose body fat percentage. So my thought was everyone else submit to me (so not everyone sees, i’m discreet) a starting weight, and at the end a final weight, and we could see what percentage of your formal self you are. This would normalize it for those who have less to lose than others. A person weighing 150 who loses ten pounds is about 93.6% of their formal self, while someone who is 300 and loses ten pounds is 96 something % of their formal self. I realize people are sensitive about weights, so we could also have it do it yourself, since I think most people who would enter are trustworthy. For those with access to their or knowledge of body fat percentages, they know how much harder it is to lose 1 percent than 1 pound, but the numbers are lower, so you could chose that too. Someone with 20% bmi who loses 1% is 95% of before, so you can see it would be relatively synonymous. I really feel like a prize makes a good incentive to actually do something everyone usually thinks about this time of year. I know i’m ready to start again, because i started slacking last November and with the exception of a few times this week, haven’t been keeping up, and I hate to lose competitions, so I would really push myself if there was an incentive.

If anyone else thinks this is a good idea, wants to do it, or has suggestions let me know, but I’m really interested in getting this going, maybe the first week of February. I don’t want to mess up any sizing for the upcoming Gregg-Rausch wedding!

Well, I have a few minutes before my friend Megan comes over to study, so I thought I would make a small post because it appears everyone else has been.
As the title insinuates, I have two days of school left. Two part final for Forensic Biology on Monday, and a paper, presentation, and test for Forensic Toxicology on Tuesday. So, lots left for me to do. Then, I get to go home, which I am excited about!
In job hunting news, I had a mini phone interview with Bemidji, and they sound very interested, and want an interview while I am home. And the pay is much better once training is done than I thought. However, Bryce isn’t feeling it, so I’m unsure what to do. I don’t want to lead them on and continue the process if he is not willing to move there, but what would happen if he changes his mind - the opportunity would be gone. So, I really like the area, really excited about the quality of the training they offer, and the opportunity for a career there, but Bryce said he will not live anywhere in SD, ND, IA, or anywhere in MN but St. Cloud, Rochester, or the Cities, and maybe Madison WI. Which really sucks for me since I don’t want to live in a huge city forever. I miss hunting and fishing, and I want a house I can afford with a garden and a yard and I would love to live on a lake and have a boat and place for a campfire. And not deal with idiot drivers anymore. He has decided he wants to be a city man with a fat bank roll, and maybe move somewhere south. Sooo….
How you know you still got it… I went to happy hour with a few of my girlfriends last night for $1 rail drinks to see our “Dad” band, who are a group of brothers and one friend who are late 30’s to 40’s and they love having us young groupies come watch them, but one was sick and they didn’t play. We stayed anyways and I ended up getting hit on incessantly by an approx. 45 year old man who was bragging up his work in forensic computers. I was trying to show I wasn’t interested and trying to talk to my friends, also putting my ring hand across my chest and the rings flashing in his face but he just would not quit. He kept buying all of our $1 drinks and trying to buy me shots and get me to drink from his cup… yuck. Eventually he got up to leave, and tried to give me his phone number and his email address so I could call next time we were coming back, and I was just going to throw it away, but he wouldn’t quit telling me to call him, so I finally had to be what I should have been but don’t have the heart to be that way and told him I was married, and then he left. A little while later, we were walking out the door and the bouncer says “You girls are leaving already?” and the other bouncer goes “You can’t leave, you’re the hottest chicks in this place!”. So we are laughing and outside in the parking lot, and two guys are walking towards the entrance, and one goes to the other “Dude, I told you we were too late, all the hot bitches are leaving!” SO I guess we were a good looking group of ladies last night. I always joke now I’m an old married woman, but guess I still got it, if i’m looking for creepy 45 year old men and random guys looking for “hot bitches” at the bar.
I don’t really know too much these days, lots of work has been done and needs to be done, but I thought I would share my funny story from last night.

I cannot believe that tomorrow is Thanksgiving. Crazy ridiculous.
Again this year we are hosting the can’t afford to go home for Thanksgiving Thanksgiving celebration. I will be making a relish tray, deviled eggs, shrimp dip, gravy, mashed potatoes, and ding ding ding a turkey. I also made a homemade (from the pumpkin!) pumpkin pie that is in the freezer for today. It is amazing, and I know this because I made two of them when I made them. So if you thought I stuck my finger in it and tasted it, you are gross.
What I hate about hosting is cleaning. I know they don’t care if i scrubbed the corners of the bathroom, but I do. Thanks mom for instilling the need to clean the house before anyone comes over. I think there are many acquaintances that believe we always have our house clean. Its not far from the truth because we have people over weekly, but I’m good at leaving things laying around and Bryce is good at not noticing there are little nasty things in need of removal from the floor. So between the two of us, we haven’t caught any diseases of disgustingness.
The word ending ness reminds me to just say that I went on a three blog commenting binge today, and for some reason I was full of things to say, most of them inappropriate so if you think the final product is bad, I’m glad you didn’t read the originals. I was what I would call “feisty” for the cats today. Feisty is when you are trying to be funny or playful and really, you are a kinda nasty, and I stopped reading blogs so I wouldn’t comment anymore today. In partial unrelatedness, one of the cats definetely needs to hit the litterbox because they let something all kinds of nasty go. That or a small baby skunk got in here and dropped its stink gland on the floor.
Last night we played trivia, as we do on some Tuesdays. It was super packed and loud due to it being a night where they gave away good prizes, so I feel like we weren’t able to concentrate well enough to get some good scores, and also I was born in 1984. I was not living in the 40’s-81, and so I don’t know pop culture from this period. So we didn’t do so hot.
To those who may not know we should be home the Saturday before Christmas. I think we will be staying most nights at my parents house, because Paula doesn’t want me to stay, evidenced by the addition of Jet. I’m only kidding about that being purposeful, but it does present a problem for me, since I have not been exposed to dogs since July, i will probably have to be heavily medicated when visiting their house, and sleeping there would probably literally kill me. I’m sure Bryce will stay there a few times, so have no fear Rausch family, he will grace you with shirtless rendevous through the house. It will be very weird for everyone I think, the idea that we are now married and staying with each other. I don’t think a boy has ever stayed at my parents house, so I’m sure it will be weird to them and it will probably be weird for Bryce since he is rarely at my parents house when we are home. I’ve spent a few random nights at the Rausch’s and have practically lived there during the day many summers and weekends and Christmas vacations, but the other way around definetely is new.
I also am still looking for jobs. I have found one in MN, but it is in Bemidji. Which is like heaven on Earth for old me, and still sounds pretty good to east-coasted me. Hunting, fishing, affordable housing… but for Bryce, he’s not into hunting and fishing and he has grown accustomed to big city life. He says he doesn’t think he could even live in Sioux Falls. Which probably puts WI out since there aren’t really big cities there either. So now I’m confused about where to look, since I’d ruled out places like Maryland and California for lack of desire to move to another random large city. He wants to continue working with ADP as a field rep somewhere, and northern MN isn’t an option for that. So… I’m kind of back to square one since the Minneapolis job turned me down for lack of experience.
I will probably drop back off of the blogging planet again here, as the next few weeks will be out of control. The director of the program has literally apologized for making this semester ridiculous, but says it had to be done this way. So tears for me and I will see everyone at Christmas. Unless something needing a post comes up, that is.

Well, since there has been a recent surge in blogging activity due to threats by a certain mother-in-law of mine, I will “mini-psot” although clearly she hasn’t forgotten I said I wouldn’t post all the time.
Tonight Justin and Alicia will be coming. I’m excited and I know we’ll have a great time. Whenever guests come, it means we get to have cheesesteaks and to those of you who haven’t had one, they are amazing. Cheese whiz is the best thing to come to fried beef and bread. I’m going to think of some options, and I will leave most of it up to them, since it’s their vacation.
I don’t remember if I mentioned it last time, but Bryce and I have been hitting the gym pretty hard lately. Although Bryce believes I didn’t have much to lose, I have already lost ten pounds. I’m down to 145, so Bryce and I weigh the same. The same as my husband who is half an inch taller than me. So anyone who thinks I didn’t have much to lose must think he’s got some to gain, or are crazy. My goal is about 7 more, although muscle mass will make that hard. I’m pretty muscular for a girl, and muscle weighs more than fat, so i will settle for inches in the right places. If only I could stand doing abs.
I’m also in that place where it is time to start applying to jobs. Most jobs are government, and although they are accepting applications through the end of October, the interviews won’t be til Nov/Dec, and the job won’t start til next spring, so now is the time to find one for after school. Also, if I find one that starts next January, I can substitute a job for my internship requirement (although it takes some pleading). So wish me luck, and if you have any contacts in criminal laboratories, tell them you have their next awesome employee and direct them to me!
Also, we have mice. And I don’t mean the ones in cages, although I wish I did. I like my apartment, but between me and my cats, we have caught three. I haven’t caught one in 4 days, so I may have caught most of the population, but we will just have to see. Although it may seem gross, they are really cute, and the cats have gotten to live like real cats, hunting something other than bugs for awhile. So, having mice isn’t all bad to me.
Time for class!