Well, it's been a while since I last updated, but I guess I'll do my best to make up for that. Well, the week has been ok, naturally a lot of work, but time for amusement also. Monday night was the QMSU meeting to organize for the fundraiser on Friday night. I'm having a much better time integrating with the people here compared with Miami which is fine. Wednesday my boss came in as he was about to fly out to Paris for a conference. I showed him what I was working on and hopefully will have more by the time he gets back. My other boss was knocked out for most of the week with a flu, but managed to make it back in on Friday. On Wednesday night however there was a dinner to celebrate the graduating Chemistry majors and hand out awards and prizes. I went in place of my boss and it was nice. The dinner was ok except for the undercooked meat and we went over to a bar later on. This was another chance to meet people in the department I hadn't previously talked to before.
Thursday night two of us spent a few hours on the electron microscope looking for structures which was cool though tiring. Friday I talked with my other boss and filled him in. The University was also having a big sale to get rid of its excess inventory. I found a set of shelves which I managed to lug back to my apartment. They were sorely needed as I have a dearth of shelving space. Later on in the afternoon I went with one of the undergrads to grab some chairs since they were getting rid of what people wouldn't buy for free. We scored some nice chairs for the lab and that started me off on a bit of a cleaning streak. Once I get worked up it's hard to stop, but the lab has 20 years of collected rubbish lying around so it needed to be done.
Of course being Friday it was also the QMSU Gay-Straight Prom. Given that this is Montanan there are a lot of gay people who can't really be themselves lest some red-neck have an issue with it. Therefore the Prom was a nice way of having a gay friendly event where there isn't a lot else to do. I rushed home from work about 6 pm after attending a lecture on superconductivity and jumped in the shower. After a little rest I didn't know what to wear, but seeing that it was raining and I don't have a car I had to dress down. Much to my surprise the little moped started up straight away and I made it over to the venue a bit after 7 pm. The guys who were putting the show together needed people to help set up and had been left in the lurch a bit by people pulling out. I was happy to assist, and then about 8 pm we had it all together. Because of the venue we couldn't crank up the music until about 10 pm which sucked, but since we were lucky to get this place we had to deal with it. I was working the front desk, because I didn't really want to go in since I didn't really know many of the people there. That actually turned out to be a lot of fun, I was selling raffle tickets as a fund raiser, and the Aussie accent really worked a treat. I think I sold about $140 worth of tickets at a dollar a pop. I worked the front desk with Jonathon until close to midnight when the QMSU president convinced me to go in and dance for a while. It was good fun, and I met a girl Tiffany who I hung out with. It was an interesting mix of people, probably about 75/25 guys to girls, with an interesting mix. We had people in lei's and Hawaiian shirts, girls in bondage gear, three drag queens, kids from the local high school and a really great vibe. Even better I didn't pay for any of the three drinks I had. :) I wish I had dressed up more, but oh well.
The dance went on until 2 am, and I just barely resisted the urge to go to the after party and an invitation to go hang out at Denny's. Since I had driven the little moped over, I had to stay fairly sober, so that swayed my decision plus the fact that I had to help the guys pack everything up. I got home and into bed about 3 am, the latest I've been out for quite a long time.