Just when I thought things were looking up, the uniform greyness of Pittsburgh days descends upon us once again, and I get steamrollered by my old friend-nemesis, SAD. First, on Monday, I wake up at 3:44 a.m., and am obviously not going to be able to get back to sleep. Now, as the busses in Pgh only start running around 5:20 a.m., I can't go to work, and I don't want to wake D up, so I busy myself with e-mail and such & watch some TV until a more respectable hour. Then, on Tuesday, I'm running late, and don't do anything for the christmas party at work. Which leads me to believe I shouldn't go. Plus, I feel like avoiding people, which isn't particularly difficult since one of my co-workers reliably locks me in the lab when she leaves the room. Interestingly, she fails to lock the door when she leaves the lab empty - but I suppose I have complained enough about her in previous blogs. And in person a whole lot.
So, instead of gorging myself on cookies and beer, I went running instead. Well, it's actually more like jogging very mildly, with a whole lot of walking interspersed. But I did it outside, which hasn't happened in a very long time (scale of years). And this makes it a whole lot harder than running on a treadmill. My legs hurt in completely different places. So that was good, although I met some other grad students for cheap beer after work, and undid any good that was achieved with the running. Plus I ended up being in a crap mood, and went home to yell at D about the same stuff I always yell at him for.
So Wednesday I woke up feeling awful. Not hungover, but still uneasy because of the fight I picked. Not that I don't have valid points, but D never fights back overtly, so it always seems like I'm the one being unreasonable. Which is in itself a fighting tactic, just a hugely passive-aggressive one. I also couldn't seem to drag myself out of bed, or once that was accomplished, off the couch. So I missed my UV appt (8:45), and watched bad recorded tv for a few hours, all while trying to decide if I would take the day off of work or not. I finally get myself to the busstop, and take the bus to Oakland, where I eat lunch, and decide that I'd prefer to not have to be around any of the people I work with, and go home. Most productive day ever - I love that I get to a point of indecision that literally results in me turning around on the street several times, trying to get up the will to do something. anything.
I'm hoping this is just a random thing, happening this week & then receding, but I have a feeling it's just the beginning. Oh, and I got nominated for the same fellowship that I apply for every year, but fail to receive it every year. I wish they would just nominate someone else, so I can stop wasting my time on this retarded thing.
Friday, December 21, 2007
Sunday, December 16, 2007
cheese straws!!!
Well, I'm finally getting around to finish up the holiday boxes for everyone. I still have one batch of toffee to make (covered in white chocolate, one of my friends is allergic to the real stuff), and several batches of cheese straws. I think I'll also roast a chicken today, which D is looking forward to. I've been waking up early these days, but realize that there isn't really anything for me to do, so I just go back to bed. Of course I could always clean, but I get tired of doing all the things that I "have" to do. Plus D looks so cute wrapped up in blankets with one cat (only one of them will come into our bedroom, but she loves him like crazy).
I went for my first mammogram yesterday, which was kind of scary. Everything turned out well, but having to go early, and not knowing what to expect exactly was nerve-wracking. Fifteen minutes before I left, I was seriously thinking of skipping it. When I got there, they make you put on a robe & go into the back of the breast center. It's almost like a spa back there, with a bunch of women in robes, waiting to go into various rooms. I chatted with an older woman, who said that she still gets nervous every time she goes, and "would have given anything to not have to go" when she got up that morning. But I was out in an hour, and everything was normal. They want me to come back for another one in 6 months, just to document what my tissue looks like, but the doctor told me if I was a little older, he would have just had me come back at 40. He just didn't want me to wait 10 years. On the up side, it was not as painful as I had expected from hearing about other women's experiences. It's just really weird to be squished that much, and to try not to move while they expose the film. I kept thinking, "what if I fall over?", since you are firmly attached to this big machine.
Today's music is Bill Wither's, and there is an extremely fuzzy kitty sitting next to me. :)
I went for my first mammogram yesterday, which was kind of scary. Everything turned out well, but having to go early, and not knowing what to expect exactly was nerve-wracking. Fifteen minutes before I left, I was seriously thinking of skipping it. When I got there, they make you put on a robe & go into the back of the breast center. It's almost like a spa back there, with a bunch of women in robes, waiting to go into various rooms. I chatted with an older woman, who said that she still gets nervous every time she goes, and "would have given anything to not have to go" when she got up that morning. But I was out in an hour, and everything was normal. They want me to come back for another one in 6 months, just to document what my tissue looks like, but the doctor told me if I was a little older, he would have just had me come back at 40. He just didn't want me to wait 10 years. On the up side, it was not as painful as I had expected from hearing about other women's experiences. It's just really weird to be squished that much, and to try not to move while they expose the film. I kept thinking, "what if I fall over?", since you are firmly attached to this big machine.
Today's music is Bill Wither's, and there is an extremely fuzzy kitty sitting next to me. :)
Friday, December 14, 2007
I'm Dream.....mas
One of the things that the MythTV recorder actually recorded was White Christmas. I decided to actually watch it while finishing up the present wrapping last night, since I don't generally have christmas music, and we have no tree (something that will be remedied next year). However, I'll have to agree with Mom's assessment of this year's TV airing of the movie - they cut out like 1/2 the scenes!!! Most of the dancing is gone, and you can barely follow the story - even when you already know it! Shame on whatever station is behind the "My Pittsburgh TV" logo.
On the upside, the cats thoroughly enjoyed climbing into empty boxes, sitting in empty boxes, then running away once I had put batteries in the camera and aimed it at them. Also, I gave them wrapping paper balls that they had lots of fun with. This was after D suggested that we wrap some of their existing toys to give to them for christmas - since cats aren't all that smart, they won't know the difference. I then had to demonstrate that there is no substitute for wrapping paper balls (except maybe tin foil balls).
Otherwise, not much is happening. We might get snow on Sunday, as opposed to the rain & freezing rain that has been on the menu this week. School is wrapping up for the semester, and I'm having a hard time getting anything done again. I just don't really care that much. In fact, I think I'm going to leave early today, in order to cook some more & perhaps clean up a bit at home. I hope I'll be able to talk to my family this weekend too :)
On the upside, the cats thoroughly enjoyed climbing into empty boxes, sitting in empty boxes, then running away once I had put batteries in the camera and aimed it at them. Also, I gave them wrapping paper balls that they had lots of fun with. This was after D suggested that we wrap some of their existing toys to give to them for christmas - since cats aren't all that smart, they won't know the difference. I then had to demonstrate that there is no substitute for wrapping paper balls (except maybe tin foil balls).
Otherwise, not much is happening. We might get snow on Sunday, as opposed to the rain & freezing rain that has been on the menu this week. School is wrapping up for the semester, and I'm having a hard time getting anything done again. I just don't really care that much. In fact, I think I'm going to leave early today, in order to cook some more & perhaps clean up a bit at home. I hope I'll be able to talk to my family this weekend too :)
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
%*&$##! microdialysis probes!
So I've been doing this apprenticeship thing (research in another lab) for a couple of months now, and enjoying it. But, despite the relative simplicity of the experiments, it is actually very hard to get data. First you have to make decent probes out of very small and delicate materials, plus a lot of epoxy. Then you have to implant them into a brain. Then you have to hook them up to liquid that is pushed through them. Then you have to inject the liquid that you collect into an HPLC machine. Then you pray that the HPLC will reveal some nice peaks.
However, I have discovered there are many things that can go wrong at all stages of this procedure. 1) Animal dies while or immediately after you implant probes. 2) Probes, which were flowing fine before you put them in brain, immediately cease flowing once you put them into brain. 3) Probes stop flowing at some random time during experiment, usually because air has somehow gotten into the line. 4) HPLC freaks out & won't show you anything useful.
Since the whole process takes two days even when its working well, it's frustrating to have it crap out on you towards the end. Especially since you'll just have to do the whole thing again if the data aren't complete. Actually, you have to do the whole thing again anyway, to prove that your results aren't just a fluke. Why am I doing this again?
Oh yeah, at some point I thought science was exciting and fun.
In other news (aka Holiday update), many of my holiday cards went out yesterday. Which is in itself surprising, since the postman only comes by our house on a random schedule (I think it's based on whenever he feels like climbing the stairs). Cookies are done, I have only one more batch of toffee to make, and cheese straws. And then, of course, lug gigantic boxes to UPS for shipping. I think I will have to borrow the car for this.
One more note, I've been bugging D to get the Voice-over-IP working in the house. I feel I have waited long enough (over a year now) for this to be working, since my cell phone doesn't work in the house, & no-one ever calls me anymore due to aforementioned cell phone problem. I miss talking to my family (not a problem for him), and would like to be able to cook or clean while I talk to them (also not a problem for him). So I threatened to get a landline installed, which I may do anyway, since the VOIP will not work whenever the computer crashes, which, in our house, is every 35 seconds. There are times when I understand why he gets fired so much - nothing ever works without having to reset it 45,000 times. Or having to call him to do it, since I don't have his passwords, or don't know which of his 15 computers is having the problem in question, or don't really care to learn how to fix it. I just want to be able to talk on the phone (or watch TV, which also breaks constantly because he has to have a free Tivo like program running on some Frankenstein computer - my favorite part of this is that it will pretend to record things, but then have an empty data file - just kidding! you can't actually watch that show!)
Urrgh, sorry to complain, I know I said I wouldn't do that here. But a lot of things are getting to me right now.
However, I have discovered there are many things that can go wrong at all stages of this procedure. 1) Animal dies while or immediately after you implant probes. 2) Probes, which were flowing fine before you put them in brain, immediately cease flowing once you put them into brain. 3) Probes stop flowing at some random time during experiment, usually because air has somehow gotten into the line. 4) HPLC freaks out & won't show you anything useful.
Since the whole process takes two days even when its working well, it's frustrating to have it crap out on you towards the end. Especially since you'll just have to do the whole thing again if the data aren't complete. Actually, you have to do the whole thing again anyway, to prove that your results aren't just a fluke. Why am I doing this again?
Oh yeah, at some point I thought science was exciting and fun.
In other news (aka Holiday update), many of my holiday cards went out yesterday. Which is in itself surprising, since the postman only comes by our house on a random schedule (I think it's based on whenever he feels like climbing the stairs). Cookies are done, I have only one more batch of toffee to make, and cheese straws. And then, of course, lug gigantic boxes to UPS for shipping. I think I will have to borrow the car for this.
One more note, I've been bugging D to get the Voice-over-IP working in the house. I feel I have waited long enough (over a year now) for this to be working, since my cell phone doesn't work in the house, & no-one ever calls me anymore due to aforementioned cell phone problem. I miss talking to my family (not a problem for him), and would like to be able to cook or clean while I talk to them (also not a problem for him). So I threatened to get a landline installed, which I may do anyway, since the VOIP will not work whenever the computer crashes, which, in our house, is every 35 seconds. There are times when I understand why he gets fired so much - nothing ever works without having to reset it 45,000 times. Or having to call him to do it, since I don't have his passwords, or don't know which of his 15 computers is having the problem in question, or don't really care to learn how to fix it. I just want to be able to talk on the phone (or watch TV, which also breaks constantly because he has to have a free Tivo like program running on some Frankenstein computer - my favorite part of this is that it will pretend to record things, but then have an empty data file - just kidding! you can't actually watch that show!)
Urrgh, sorry to complain, I know I said I wouldn't do that here. But a lot of things are getting to me right now.
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Ohmigosh, it's so cold here!
Just a quick post - it's been snowy & cold for a couple of days now. I must go through some stored things & find gloves & long underwear & some better shoes. I'm unprepared for winter.
But after I shoveled the front walk and put salt down, I got to witness one of the cats (Bathtub Kitty from the picture) jump into a laundry basket, only to realize that the sides were too high to get out again. I love cats :)
Hope everyone else is staying warm & having a good night.
But after I shoveled the front walk and put salt down, I got to witness one of the cats (Bathtub Kitty from the picture) jump into a laundry basket, only to realize that the sides were too high to get out again. I love cats :)
Hope everyone else is staying warm & having a good night.
Monday, December 3, 2007
Silly songs
I realize it's been nearly a month since I last posted, even though many funny things have happened. It's actually a virtually daily occurrence in our house, and that's something I am frequently grateful for. D & I spent a pretty relaxing weekend at the house, but still managed to get a lot done. On Friday, I held the second Pittsburgh Neuroanatomy Group meeting, which is something I've been trying at work. Basically we have a bunch of neuroanatomists in the department, but because they all work in different areas of the brain (hypothalamus vs brain stem vs midbrain vs cortex), we never really all get in one room together. Which is a shame, because on technically related matters, there's a lot we can learn from each other. So, I've been trying to get everyone in one room, talking about their projects, techniques in general, and also socializing (since one of my main problems is talking to professors, and I imagine I'm not the only grad student who is intimidated by these pretty-famous-people). I still feel like most of them don't like me, but I'm working on getting rid of this negative thought. I've been going to therapy for this kind of thing, and I'm going to try to get better at getting myself out there, professionally.
But, back to our weekend. After the meeting, I met up with a couple of friends for some beer, pool, and darts. Then D met me at the bar, and we went home. Unfortunately, he got a new Sims game (Sims castaway), and so he spent the majority of the evening playing that. Well, so did I (we took turns), but I also went to bed at 9:30. Saturday morning, I met my friend M for coffee (as is our habit now). I walked down to the So Side Flats, which was good for me even though it was 22 degrees out. Warmed up in her house for a bit, then we headed out. She's going through a bunch of annoying legal stuff over her husband's kid from a previous marriage (big custody battle in the last year, and the mother is incredibly unreasonable), so we usually chat about that, and we caught up on our respective Thanksgiving stories (she went to Massachusetts, where we're both from, and D & I spent the weekend in Phila). After coffee, we usually wander into the insanely expensive kitchen store where I spend too much money on little gadgets I don't need, but I avoided it this time. I did go to the bookstore though, and found some really good holiday cards. Then both of us went to the grocery store, & I got candy making materials.
So, Saturday afternoon, D & I made toffee. I also just about finished wrapping presents for my nephews, and started making out envelopes for the cards we'll need to send out. D did a heroic amount of laundry, I made an edible dinner (though not fabulous by any means), and finally cleaned my bathroom. with Lysol :) The real stuff, not the stuff that's in meadow blossom scent or whatever. I bought 5 bottles of the concentrated lysol off the internet for very cheap, but was dismayed to find that all of the caps were defective - D couldn't get them open any more than I could. But, I just drilled holes in the bottles, and transferred them to another container. I know you're not supposed to do this, especially since I don't have the secondary container labeled, but I assume that the cats still can't open bottle caps & that D would realize that it doesn't smell like something one should drink. Plus it's in the chemical cabinet. Maybe I'll get around to labeling it soon.
Oh, but back to my weekend. Sunday, I got up early-ish, made it to work for a couple of hours, & then went grocery shopping. In the afternoon, I coated the toffee with chocolate, made soup for the week, and made a roast beef for dinner (something I very rarely do).
After dinner, D & I watched cartoons, and got ready for bed. As I was leaving the third floor, I told him I would switch the laundry for him (since he was still going to be up for awhile), and he started singing, "I'll switch the laundry" to the tune of "I shot the sherriff". This is one of the things that I love about him. We both do this - I have a song that I sing to my cat "Kitty, kitty, oh-o kitty cat, what are you lookin' at?" that is a supremes song, I think - and have done this for a long time. I can't claim credit for it even, my mom always made up songs when we were growing up, and she usually came up with her own music too. But I love that he's as silly as I am in this respect.
I actually first noticed it when we made our first drive from MA to PA. We drove overnight, and somehow kept singing, "I been driving all night, my hands white on the wheel, durn-nurn-nur-nur-nur-na na na" at intervals when neither one of us had anything left to talk about. It would crack both of us up, and it made the trip more fun. I don't remember the first silly song he made up, but I do distinctly remember him backing me up on a rendition of the themesong from the Jeffersons. He's a good back-up singer, and it was one of those moments when you realize you really love this person. (There's also the tale of der Muffinmacher, and der Snuggler, but that's for another time :)
Hope everyone is having a good day!
But, back to our weekend. After the meeting, I met up with a couple of friends for some beer, pool, and darts. Then D met me at the bar, and we went home. Unfortunately, he got a new Sims game (Sims castaway), and so he spent the majority of the evening playing that. Well, so did I (we took turns), but I also went to bed at 9:30. Saturday morning, I met my friend M for coffee (as is our habit now). I walked down to the So Side Flats, which was good for me even though it was 22 degrees out. Warmed up in her house for a bit, then we headed out. She's going through a bunch of annoying legal stuff over her husband's kid from a previous marriage (big custody battle in the last year, and the mother is incredibly unreasonable), so we usually chat about that, and we caught up on our respective Thanksgiving stories (she went to Massachusetts, where we're both from, and D & I spent the weekend in Phila). After coffee, we usually wander into the insanely expensive kitchen store where I spend too much money on little gadgets I don't need, but I avoided it this time. I did go to the bookstore though, and found some really good holiday cards. Then both of us went to the grocery store, & I got candy making materials.
So, Saturday afternoon, D & I made toffee. I also just about finished wrapping presents for my nephews, and started making out envelopes for the cards we'll need to send out. D did a heroic amount of laundry, I made an edible dinner (though not fabulous by any means), and finally cleaned my bathroom. with Lysol :) The real stuff, not the stuff that's in meadow blossom scent or whatever. I bought 5 bottles of the concentrated lysol off the internet for very cheap, but was dismayed to find that all of the caps were defective - D couldn't get them open any more than I could. But, I just drilled holes in the bottles, and transferred them to another container. I know you're not supposed to do this, especially since I don't have the secondary container labeled, but I assume that the cats still can't open bottle caps & that D would realize that it doesn't smell like something one should drink. Plus it's in the chemical cabinet. Maybe I'll get around to labeling it soon.
Oh, but back to my weekend. Sunday, I got up early-ish, made it to work for a couple of hours, & then went grocery shopping. In the afternoon, I coated the toffee with chocolate, made soup for the week, and made a roast beef for dinner (something I very rarely do).
After dinner, D & I watched cartoons, and got ready for bed. As I was leaving the third floor, I told him I would switch the laundry for him (since he was still going to be up for awhile), and he started singing, "I'll switch the laundry" to the tune of "I shot the sherriff". This is one of the things that I love about him. We both do this - I have a song that I sing to my cat "Kitty, kitty, oh-o kitty cat, what are you lookin' at?" that is a supremes song, I think - and have done this for a long time. I can't claim credit for it even, my mom always made up songs when we were growing up, and she usually came up with her own music too. But I love that he's as silly as I am in this respect.
I actually first noticed it when we made our first drive from MA to PA. We drove overnight, and somehow kept singing, "I been driving all night, my hands white on the wheel, durn-nurn-nur-nur-nur-na na na" at intervals when neither one of us had anything left to talk about. It would crack both of us up, and it made the trip more fun. I don't remember the first silly song he made up, but I do distinctly remember him backing me up on a rendition of the themesong from the Jeffersons. He's a good back-up singer, and it was one of those moments when you realize you really love this person. (There's also the tale of der Muffinmacher, and der Snuggler, but that's for another time :)
Hope everyone is having a good day!
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Oh Geez!
Well, I have finally had to get stitches. I was up watching a professor's house & kids from Sunday till Tuesday. Everything was going well, they're great kids & in high school so all I really had to was show up & stay overnight to prevent parties. They even cooked for me.
Tuesday morning I went outside to smoke, and after I was done, I crouched down to put the cigarette out on the wet ground before I brought the butt in to throw it out. But I reached over too far, and fell off the 4 inch deck. Onto the slate stones. Onto my face. I did get my arm out a little bit, but not enough.
I had my glasses on, so I was immediately worried that I had broken them. I rolled onto my back, and put them back on, and was glad to see that they were intact. Then I felt something running down my face. Blood, naturally, so I got up & went inside to clean off the wound & see what the damage was.
Now, maybe the glasses protected me in a way, because my eyeball is not damaged at all, and my vision is fine. But the frame of them got pushed up into the orbital bones, & I got a big gash around the outer corner of my eye. Which needed three stitches when I went to the ER. I do have to say that UPMC Presbyterian is great, I was seen right away (it was 9:30 am, so that may be part of it), and the people were nice & did a good job stitching me up. The tetanus booster I got was a little rough though (Nursing student, and I firmly believe that they have to practice on somebody.)
So now I look like I got beat up. But it should heal quickly (they said five days). It's just hard to walk around in public. And I'm worried that I left blood somewhere outside at my prof's house. And about explaining what happened when I see this person tomorrow.
In other news:
I voted for a Republican for mayor. The race was between Luke Ravenstahl, the incumbent 27-year old Democrat who got the job because Bob O'Connor, the guy people voted in last time, got a brain tumor and died like 6 months after taking office. In the past year & a half, Luke has been caught: 1) flying to New York on a private jet of a corporation that had upcoming decisions concerning advertising permits with the city; 2) using a Homeland Security vehicle to go to a Toby Keith concert; 3) playing in a golf tournament, with the $27,000 entrance fee paid by the same company in #1; 4) skipping a meeting with local women's groups after allowing three police officers with recent and/or multiple domestic assault charges filed to be promoted; 5) skipping a community development meeting with a North side residents group concerning how the casino that will be built in their neighborhood will impact the area (i.e. working out some rules so that the community will actually derive some benefit from its presence, not just the crime). And the worst part is, that when he's confronted with this, he says that people are just blowing it out of proportion!
Needless to say, I don't like the guy. He's too immature to realize that accepting bribes is actually kind of serious?? The other guy isn't great, but at least he has some sense of reality, and the actual problems facing this city! So I voted for Mark DeSantis. And predictably, he lost. By like 60%. So we're stuck with Opie, as the local paper calls him. The only comfort is that this was a special election, so it's only for a 2-yr term. But I'd be really surprised if we don't end up with Mayor Luke for the next four too.
Tuesday morning I went outside to smoke, and after I was done, I crouched down to put the cigarette out on the wet ground before I brought the butt in to throw it out. But I reached over too far, and fell off the 4 inch deck. Onto the slate stones. Onto my face. I did get my arm out a little bit, but not enough.
I had my glasses on, so I was immediately worried that I had broken them. I rolled onto my back, and put them back on, and was glad to see that they were intact. Then I felt something running down my face. Blood, naturally, so I got up & went inside to clean off the wound & see what the damage was.
Now, maybe the glasses protected me in a way, because my eyeball is not damaged at all, and my vision is fine. But the frame of them got pushed up into the orbital bones, & I got a big gash around the outer corner of my eye. Which needed three stitches when I went to the ER. I do have to say that UPMC Presbyterian is great, I was seen right away (it was 9:30 am, so that may be part of it), and the people were nice & did a good job stitching me up. The tetanus booster I got was a little rough though (Nursing student, and I firmly believe that they have to practice on somebody.)
So now I look like I got beat up. But it should heal quickly (they said five days). It's just hard to walk around in public. And I'm worried that I left blood somewhere outside at my prof's house. And about explaining what happened when I see this person tomorrow.
In other news:
I voted for a Republican for mayor. The race was between Luke Ravenstahl, the incumbent 27-year old Democrat who got the job because Bob O'Connor, the guy people voted in last time, got a brain tumor and died like 6 months after taking office. In the past year & a half, Luke has been caught: 1) flying to New York on a private jet of a corporation that had upcoming decisions concerning advertising permits with the city; 2) using a Homeland Security vehicle to go to a Toby Keith concert; 3) playing in a golf tournament, with the $27,000 entrance fee paid by the same company in #1; 4) skipping a meeting with local women's groups after allowing three police officers with recent and/or multiple domestic assault charges filed to be promoted; 5) skipping a community development meeting with a North side residents group concerning how the casino that will be built in their neighborhood will impact the area (i.e. working out some rules so that the community will actually derive some benefit from its presence, not just the crime). And the worst part is, that when he's confronted with this, he says that people are just blowing it out of proportion!
Needless to say, I don't like the guy. He's too immature to realize that accepting bribes is actually kind of serious?? The other guy isn't great, but at least he has some sense of reality, and the actual problems facing this city! So I voted for Mark DeSantis. And predictably, he lost. By like 60%. So we're stuck with Opie, as the local paper calls him. The only comfort is that this was a special election, so it's only for a 2-yr term. But I'd be really surprised if we don't end up with Mayor Luke for the next four too.
Saturday, November 3, 2007
Ben Folds Five is bad for you
or maybe just for me. I like to listen to iTunes at work, since I can tap into other people's music collections and listen to the radio as well. However, I absolutely have to stop listening to Ben Folds Five. I love it, but I end up crying hysterically at this one particular song (okay, and not so hysterically to many, many other songs), Smoke. It's a beautiful melody but something about it just gets me. So work went well today, as you all can probably tell. At least no-one was there to see me a teary, mucusy mess.
I'm back home now, watching the first episode of Heroes, 2nd season. There's this weird channel that we get called G4 tv, that is definitely geared to adolescent boys that play lots of video games. They actually have shows where they review video games, but they also re-run StarTrek episodes, so we actually record a lot off of this channel. And they run this thing called the Spock Market on their website, where you buy stocks (with play money, not real) like Dilithium Mining, and Red Shirt. The value of the stock is determined by the demand for it, and by events that occur in Star Trek re-runs that they link up with. So, if you own James T. Kirk stock, and he does something to save the day, your portfolio increases in value, but if he gets court-martialed, the value tanks. D & I used to play at night when we were going to bed (the show aired around 11 p.m., so it coincided well with bed-time), and I got pretty good at it. I'm not very risk-tolerant though, so I'd often sell before a stock peaked. I'm not sure if they still run this, I'll have to check, but it's been a few years since I've played, so it might now be defunct.
I'm waiting for water to boil, so that I can scald tomatoes, and make more sauce for the freezer. I also have to roll out cookies & get to use my cookie cutter collection :)
I did get a good amount of work done tonight. It's never as much as I hope I will get done, but it was a fair amount & I'm glad that I went. I have about 1/2 of my last VTA case to re-analyze, and 1 full SNc case, and then I'll just have to go back and re-analyze a 3rd time on a few sections , and I might be done with this project. Unfortunately, I think I'm losing my effect from this re-analysis, and so the paper will probably not be re-submitted, and about 3 years of work will really be down the drain. But better that than re-submitting several times and wasting any more time.
To make up for the depressing results of this work, I also analyzed some of my images for my thesis project. This is slow going, because I have to capture serial images off of 5 consecutive ultrathin (~65 nm) sections in order to determine if any particular terminal is labeled enough to be included in my dataset. So far, I'm not losing the effect that I got preliminarily, so that looks promising. (Sorry, I'm boring everybody with science data. I'll try to keep some of that off this blog).
I think I'm also going to take a webcourse in Statistics. I can never really find the class that I want at Pitt, but this directly addresses Mixed Linear Models, which is usually what ends up being applied to my stuff. Anyway, there's a $400 course over the internet that I think I will take even if I can't the credits to apply to my degree requirements. I actually like statistics a lot, and can do pretty well with the SAS programming if I keep up with it, so I'd like to develop these skills a little bit, and make myself a little more desirable to a wider range of employers.
I'm back home now, watching the first episode of Heroes, 2nd season. There's this weird channel that we get called G4 tv, that is definitely geared to adolescent boys that play lots of video games. They actually have shows where they review video games, but they also re-run StarTrek episodes, so we actually record a lot off of this channel. And they run this thing called the Spock Market on their website, where you buy stocks (with play money, not real) like Dilithium Mining, and Red Shirt. The value of the stock is determined by the demand for it, and by events that occur in Star Trek re-runs that they link up with. So, if you own James T. Kirk stock, and he does something to save the day, your portfolio increases in value, but if he gets court-martialed, the value tanks. D & I used to play at night when we were going to bed (the show aired around 11 p.m., so it coincided well with bed-time), and I got pretty good at it. I'm not very risk-tolerant though, so I'd often sell before a stock peaked. I'm not sure if they still run this, I'll have to check, but it's been a few years since I've played, so it might now be defunct.
I'm waiting for water to boil, so that I can scald tomatoes, and make more sauce for the freezer. I also have to roll out cookies & get to use my cookie cutter collection :)
I did get a good amount of work done tonight. It's never as much as I hope I will get done, but it was a fair amount & I'm glad that I went. I have about 1/2 of my last VTA case to re-analyze, and 1 full SNc case, and then I'll just have to go back and re-analyze a 3rd time on a few sections , and I might be done with this project. Unfortunately, I think I'm losing my effect from this re-analysis, and so the paper will probably not be re-submitted, and about 3 years of work will really be down the drain. But better that than re-submitting several times and wasting any more time.
To make up for the depressing results of this work, I also analyzed some of my images for my thesis project. This is slow going, because I have to capture serial images off of 5 consecutive ultrathin (~65 nm) sections in order to determine if any particular terminal is labeled enough to be included in my dataset. So far, I'm not losing the effect that I got preliminarily, so that looks promising. (Sorry, I'm boring everybody with science data. I'll try to keep some of that off this blog).
I think I'm also going to take a webcourse in Statistics. I can never really find the class that I want at Pitt, but this directly addresses Mixed Linear Models, which is usually what ends up being applied to my stuff. Anyway, there's a $400 course over the internet that I think I will take even if I can't the credits to apply to my degree requirements. I actually like statistics a lot, and can do pretty well with the SAS programming if I keep up with it, so I'd like to develop these skills a little bit, and make myself a little more desirable to a wider range of employers.
Lego Advent Calendar
Okay, so I've started my semi-annual obsession with Amazon.com toys section. This is a great thing about having nephews - I get to still look at toys & games.
But, in the spirit of Kristen's smores nativity set of a few years back, I need to post this:
Can I buy this for somebody? The only thing is that it looks like there are Lego Teamsters included. I'm not sure what they have to do with Christmas - maybe that toys don't get delivered to stores without Truckdrivers?
Crap - I have to go to work, then make cookies & tomato sauce (separately, not as a meal). If anything funny happens, I'll be sure to post again!
Thursday, November 1, 2007
I heart Zillow.com
I love going to check out the completely insane and arbitrary real estate valuations on Zillow.com. They usually over-rate my property by something close to $20k, which makes me feel good, even though I know it's way off. Plus, you can fill out a completely fictitious set of repairs that you have supposedly done on the house, and they don't require any proof. The updated valuation is kept as a private one, so others don't see your fantasy real-estate appraisal, but it gives me hope that if I ever do get all these things done, my house will be worth about twice as much as it is now, and I will have gotten a really great deal on it. Of course, all this comes crashing down when you consider I live in a depressed neighborhood that doesn't seem slated for revitalization anytime soon, but what the hey.... it's still fun to look.
The last few weeks have been really boring. Well, not to me, but from the outside, I must have the dullest life imaginable. Last Friday, I took off from work unexpectedly, because I didn't feel like going. It's the one good thing about grad school, and the trade off for the extremely low pay - you can generally skip whenever there's a day without classes, or crucial experiments, and in most cases, there is no need to inform anyone that you won't be there. I have tried calling in to my boss when I'm actually sick, and the end result is usually that she doesn't get the message because she herself played hookey that day. But I digress....
What did I do with my fabulous day off? I watched TV, of course! D has a free version of Tivo called MythTV that has taken him 4 years to get working right, but it records Law & Order, cartoons, and Homicide: Life on the Street for me. It also records Steven Segal and Chuck Norris movies for some reason, and every single Star Trek episode ever made (I think that's where it got the idea that we might like Chuck Norris), so there are downsides. But usually when I get home, I'll watch some Homicide, which is a pretty good show. After TV time, I did actually manage to do some cleaning, and then I put up insulation in the attic. Which was fun, but also a pain to do by yourself. Still it needed to be done, and I'm glad I made some progress. I did however, discover that I need to buy more insulation, as the Pepto-Bismol color only covers about half of the attic right now. And our staple gun is unreliable.
See what I mean? I'm boring. D & I have been watching Heroes almost every night now, although thankfully we're through Season 1 and I can get back to work. Other than that, we: put out the trash on trash night, snuggle, talk about which building permits we need, find some way to eat that doesn't involve actually having to cook (only the last couple of weeks), play with the cats, do laundry. He also does things on the laptop, that almost always involve a program called Putty. I hate this program, as he opens it and leaves it running on all my computers, and it eats up their battery life & processing capacity. But I'm sure it's a small price to pay for someone who is generally very silly, and therefore fun to be around. And now does laundry (though I'm still trying to get him to understand that part of doing laundry is putting it away, not just piling the clean stuff on the bed, where it can be a) vomited on by bathroom kitty; b) thrown on the floor with the dirty laundry & rewashed without ever being dirtied; or c) folded and put away by an irate, and muttering, Ericka. Baby steps to household chore equality.
The last few weeks have been really boring. Well, not to me, but from the outside, I must have the dullest life imaginable. Last Friday, I took off from work unexpectedly, because I didn't feel like going. It's the one good thing about grad school, and the trade off for the extremely low pay - you can generally skip whenever there's a day without classes, or crucial experiments, and in most cases, there is no need to inform anyone that you won't be there. I have tried calling in to my boss when I'm actually sick, and the end result is usually that she doesn't get the message because she herself played hookey that day. But I digress....
What did I do with my fabulous day off? I watched TV, of course! D has a free version of Tivo called MythTV that has taken him 4 years to get working right, but it records Law & Order, cartoons, and Homicide: Life on the Street for me. It also records Steven Segal and Chuck Norris movies for some reason, and every single Star Trek episode ever made (I think that's where it got the idea that we might like Chuck Norris), so there are downsides. But usually when I get home, I'll watch some Homicide, which is a pretty good show. After TV time, I did actually manage to do some cleaning, and then I put up insulation in the attic. Which was fun, but also a pain to do by yourself. Still it needed to be done, and I'm glad I made some progress. I did however, discover that I need to buy more insulation, as the Pepto-Bismol color only covers about half of the attic right now. And our staple gun is unreliable.
See what I mean? I'm boring. D & I have been watching Heroes almost every night now, although thankfully we're through Season 1 and I can get back to work. Other than that, we: put out the trash on trash night, snuggle, talk about which building permits we need, find some way to eat that doesn't involve actually having to cook (only the last couple of weeks), play with the cats, do laundry. He also does things on the laptop, that almost always involve a program called Putty. I hate this program, as he opens it and leaves it running on all my computers, and it eats up their battery life & processing capacity. But I'm sure it's a small price to pay for someone who is generally very silly, and therefore fun to be around. And now does laundry (though I'm still trying to get him to understand that part of doing laundry is putting it away, not just piling the clean stuff on the bed, where it can be a) vomited on by bathroom kitty; b) thrown on the floor with the dirty laundry & rewashed without ever being dirtied; or c) folded and put away by an irate, and muttering, Ericka. Baby steps to household chore equality.
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Taco Loco
D & I just went on our first date in longer than I can remember (my birthday at Fallingwater doesn't count, somehow). He informed me this morning that we had to go to Taco Loco tonight, so I didn't argue. This is a little, authentic Mexican place (with Authentic Mexicans that own & run it) that used to be three blocks from our apartment. They have a really nice patio outside, and you can bring your own wine. Food is awesome, & D says that the black beans are better than his mom's (quite a complement).
So we picked up a bottle of Wrenwood Zinfandel, 2004 & headed over there. I got some kind of Tilapia special, with peppers & onions and tomatoes & olives, and he got enchilades mole. Awesome. I am so full of food that I'm afraid I might vomit some of it up, simply because I don't have enough room in my stomach.
Before that, I met my friend Marguerite for coffee in the morning, got some of my knive's sharpened for free at the frou-frou cooking store on the South Side Flats, and then D & I both worked on the yard for 5 hours. He mowed, I dug up a bunch of vine-like things that are invading the small space of grass next to the sidewalk in front of the house. The little old guy neighbor (that neither D or I can remember his name, ever) stopped by & gave us gardening tips, and I discovered that I can't use our weedwacker, because I can't actually start the thing, and it stalls... alot. But I did pick 5 lbs of green cherry tomatoes today, so there'll probably be more pickled tomato preserves canning soemtime soon.
So we picked up a bottle of Wrenwood Zinfandel, 2004 & headed over there. I got some kind of Tilapia special, with peppers & onions and tomatoes & olives, and he got enchilades mole. Awesome. I am so full of food that I'm afraid I might vomit some of it up, simply because I don't have enough room in my stomach.
Before that, I met my friend Marguerite for coffee in the morning, got some of my knive's sharpened for free at the frou-frou cooking store on the South Side Flats, and then D & I both worked on the yard for 5 hours. He mowed, I dug up a bunch of vine-like things that are invading the small space of grass next to the sidewalk in front of the house. The little old guy neighbor (that neither D or I can remember his name, ever) stopped by & gave us gardening tips, and I discovered that I can't use our weedwacker, because I can't actually start the thing, and it stalls... alot. But I did pick 5 lbs of green cherry tomatoes today, so there'll probably be more pickled tomato preserves canning soemtime soon.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Best Drug Ever?
I'm thinking of posting a question on my Facebook account, since it's something I've been kicking around for awhile while cooking this weekend. What is the best drug invention/discovery ever? Okay, I'm only talking about legitimate drugs, not recreational, but there's some seriously good ones. Things I wouldn't want to live without. Obviously, it will differ according to personal situation: diabetics would (probably) vote for insulin, HIV-patients for AZT or whatever they get prescribed nowadays.
My vote(s) are threefold.
1) Benadryl. There's just so much to like about it. Yeah, it can make you sleepy, but when you're about to scratch your own eyeballs out from hay fever, a little sleepiness doesn't seem so bad. Also, you can take it preventatively, like I do when I want to eat rosemary containing food, but don't want to break out in hives. Plus it's been a generic forever, so it's relatively cheap. And people can't make it into methamphetamine, so you don't have to sign for it & get put on a government list.
2) Cortisone. Maybe most people don't appreciate this one, but I saw a documentary on this African-American chemist (Percy Julian, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percy_Lavon_Julian) that helped to find a really cheap way to produce cortisone, and they really emphasized the difference that it made to people with rheumatoid arthritis. Also how desperate people used to be to get it - when it was first produced, it was taken from an animal source & so was really rare & expensive; Julian found a way to modify soybean steroids to produce cortisone. I don't have RA, but I do have psoriasis, which is a corticosteroid-intensive kind of disorder. I love it. It's one of the only things that works consistently, and I have a relaxing reaction to its application that may be totally psychosomatic, but I don't care.
3) Novacaine (and all the other nerve-blocking, -caine class of drugs). I get a lot of dental work done, enough said. Also, I once had conjunctivitis so bad I couldn't actually open my eyes. They put lidocaine on my eyeballs in the ER, and the pain instantly disappeared. Granted, it's no cure for anything, but when you need local anesthesia, it's awesome (and has allowed me to get wisdom teeth pulled without general anesthesia, which I hate).
My vote(s) are threefold.
1) Benadryl. There's just so much to like about it. Yeah, it can make you sleepy, but when you're about to scratch your own eyeballs out from hay fever, a little sleepiness doesn't seem so bad. Also, you can take it preventatively, like I do when I want to eat rosemary containing food, but don't want to break out in hives. Plus it's been a generic forever, so it's relatively cheap. And people can't make it into methamphetamine, so you don't have to sign for it & get put on a government list.
2) Cortisone. Maybe most people don't appreciate this one, but I saw a documentary on this African-American chemist (Percy Julian, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percy_Lavon_Julian) that helped to find a really cheap way to produce cortisone, and they really emphasized the difference that it made to people with rheumatoid arthritis. Also how desperate people used to be to get it - when it was first produced, it was taken from an animal source & so was really rare & expensive; Julian found a way to modify soybean steroids to produce cortisone. I don't have RA, but I do have psoriasis, which is a corticosteroid-intensive kind of disorder. I love it. It's one of the only things that works consistently, and I have a relaxing reaction to its application that may be totally psychosomatic, but I don't care.
3) Novacaine (and all the other nerve-blocking, -caine class of drugs). I get a lot of dental work done, enough said. Also, I once had conjunctivitis so bad I couldn't actually open my eyes. They put lidocaine on my eyeballs in the ER, and the pain instantly disappeared. Granted, it's no cure for anything, but when you need local anesthesia, it's awesome (and has allowed me to get wisdom teeth pulled without general anesthesia, which I hate).
Adventures in Canning
I tried my hand at canning this weekend. We've had an amazing tomato crop this year - due to our inability to sacrifice any of our plants at the "thinning" stage - and we had to do something with all the resulting tomatoes. (Even D couldn't eat them all.)
So.... I first looked for recipes. D's mom gave me a water bath & canning supplies and the Blue book, which is some kind of home food preservation bible. It turns out that no-one has ever tried to preserve yellow-pear or non-green varieties of cherry tomatoes, so that even though many websites strongly advise you not to modify recipes, I had to do exactly that. I settled for a batch of whole cherry tomatoes (yellow-pear, and red ones) with a few Thai red-dragon peppers and habaneros thrown in, and a pickle-like preserve (strongly modified) of the same tomatoes, lemons, and peppers.
Lesson #1 - Canning is a pain in the &*%!. It takes forever. The preserve thing had to be cooked for several hours, then sit overnight, then strained, the sauce reduced, and everything added back and boiled before you even get to washing all the jars in ultra-hot water, boiling the lids & actually canning. Also, my stove is not powerful enough to boil water without several hours of ramping up the temperature. On the bright side, the water bath got well over 212 degrees Farenheit. I'm not sure this was a good thing, and didn't know boiling water could get over 212.
Lesson #2 - Always wear gloves when cutting Habaneros, even if you are only cutting them in half and think that there's no way that a significant amount of burning is going to take place.
Lesson # 3 - When you're boiling something that contains a good amount of vinegar, don't stick your bare hands in the steam coming off of it. I thought at first that it was the Habanero juice that made my hands burn for many, many hours last night (and resisted ice water, vinegar, vinegar and peroxide, washing with lavendar soap, alcohol, yogurt treatments). But then they started burning again while I was reducing the sugar/water/vinegar sauce. Bare hands + cloud of acidic gas = severe pain that you really can't believe how badly it hurts. I finally had to go to bed with a bowl of ice water next to the bed. At some point, I finally fell asleep.
Lesson #4 - I always thought that canning was supposed to force all the air out of the jars. But, there's still space/an airlike substance at the top of my jars!!! They're sealed properly, and the Blue Book only emphasizes that the seal should be good, so we'll see if they start rotting/turning interesting colors in a few weeks. If not, my family members can expect canned goods (at least the preserves, which turned out really good) for Christmas this year.
Lesson #5 (see Lesson #1) - I think canning will be a once-a-year-thing.
Otherwise, I also made cookies today with my fabulous (no sarcasm) KitchenAid mixer. It's finally cold enough to really get my oven going, and this thing makes the whole thing so much quicker. Our friend J also came over today to work on the house (Yay!). He used to do stuff for us for free, but very infrequently. Now we pay him a modest amount, and since he's no longer working at his old company but running his own contracting/HVAC thing, he has more time for us (Plus we don't feel so bad about needing/accepting so much of his help).
One thing I didn't do, was get insulation done up in the unfinished attic. I bought the stupid insulation last January, but have not gotten around to it. sigh... someday I'll get it done.
So.... I first looked for recipes. D's mom gave me a water bath & canning supplies and the Blue book, which is some kind of home food preservation bible. It turns out that no-one has ever tried to preserve yellow-pear or non-green varieties of cherry tomatoes, so that even though many websites strongly advise you not to modify recipes, I had to do exactly that. I settled for a batch of whole cherry tomatoes (yellow-pear, and red ones) with a few Thai red-dragon peppers and habaneros thrown in, and a pickle-like preserve (strongly modified) of the same tomatoes, lemons, and peppers.
Lesson #1 - Canning is a pain in the &*%!. It takes forever. The preserve thing had to be cooked for several hours, then sit overnight, then strained, the sauce reduced, and everything added back and boiled before you even get to washing all the jars in ultra-hot water, boiling the lids & actually canning. Also, my stove is not powerful enough to boil water without several hours of ramping up the temperature. On the bright side, the water bath got well over 212 degrees Farenheit. I'm not sure this was a good thing, and didn't know boiling water could get over 212.
Lesson #2 - Always wear gloves when cutting Habaneros, even if you are only cutting them in half and think that there's no way that a significant amount of burning is going to take place.
Lesson # 3 - When you're boiling something that contains a good amount of vinegar, don't stick your bare hands in the steam coming off of it. I thought at first that it was the Habanero juice that made my hands burn for many, many hours last night (and resisted ice water, vinegar, vinegar and peroxide, washing with lavendar soap, alcohol, yogurt treatments). But then they started burning again while I was reducing the sugar/water/vinegar sauce. Bare hands + cloud of acidic gas = severe pain that you really can't believe how badly it hurts. I finally had to go to bed with a bowl of ice water next to the bed. At some point, I finally fell asleep.
Lesson #4 - I always thought that canning was supposed to force all the air out of the jars. But, there's still space/an airlike substance at the top of my jars!!! They're sealed properly, and the Blue Book only emphasizes that the seal should be good, so we'll see if they start rotting/turning interesting colors in a few weeks. If not, my family members can expect canned goods (at least the preserves, which turned out really good) for Christmas this year.
Lesson #5 (see Lesson #1) - I think canning will be a once-a-year-thing.
Otherwise, I also made cookies today with my fabulous (no sarcasm) KitchenAid mixer. It's finally cold enough to really get my oven going, and this thing makes the whole thing so much quicker. Our friend J also came over today to work on the house (Yay!). He used to do stuff for us for free, but very infrequently. Now we pay him a modest amount, and since he's no longer working at his old company but running his own contracting/HVAC thing, he has more time for us (Plus we don't feel so bad about needing/accepting so much of his help).
One thing I didn't do, was get insulation done up in the unfinished attic. I bought the stupid insulation last January, but have not gotten around to it. sigh... someday I'll get it done.
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