I like rain. I think this comes from having spent my formative years in the Northwest. I like chilly grey days that don't make you feel like a disappointment for not being outside. I like wet weather plants, I like wet weather music (the Shins, Postal Service, Death cab for cutey), I have a raincoat I like to wear, and when my senior year at WWU we had a record 58 days of solid rain, I didn't notice. I like rain.
People here, don't like rain. They groan if it rains everyday for a week, even though this tends to mean there are sunny parts of the days. People tell me all the time that they get as much rain here as in Seattle (which is some piddly half as much as we get in Juneau), like that would make it more ok to gripe about rain. Seattle doesn't gripe about it- get over it!
But I am starting to get it. Here the rain doesn't lurk in misty clouds, it arrives on a thundercloud with a vicious sense of urgency. The rain comes pelting down in sheets that spray off rooftops, clog sewer drains in moments and drenches any human being unfortunate enough to still be waiting on the bus to take them home (or worse, to work). This kind of rain, rain coasts don't do. Neither do umbrellas. Just the sense that this rain might come is enough to trap you indoors (as if the heat hadn't already).
Matt and I used to hope for rain, because rain makes things cool down. Much like the lie that the weather would cool down at night, this just isn't true. The rain often makes the heat worse with its sweltering humidity. This rank moist heat rends even sweat useless. I miss the chilly winds driving mounds of mist, stealing the warmth from your bones. Bring back the winter weather! I am so over summer!
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Worn down
What a weekend. It started Saturday morning. When I went to sleep in the guest bedroom, Nagano was in there with me. When I woke up, Jess and Tigger were in there, and Jess was trying to feed Tigger some Hot dog.
It turned out that Tigger had hurt himself somehow. We suspect by jumping off the top of the cat condo while being a fat kitty. His back legs were giving him grief. He didn't even want any food. Now that's a sore Tigger. He got better pretty quickly, though, but we've been keeping him and Nagano separated all the time for a while. I don't think Tigger's in the mood for any shenannegans.
After helping him settle in, we went out to watch WANTED with Tabi and Jeff, who are taking care of our cats for us over the 4th of july weekend while we're in Florida. I really liked it. Lots of very creative, very silly action. Way fun.
[;'=[]o009. Nagano typed that.
After that we came back home and picked up the first few round of response cards sent back from invitations. It's pretty fun to open those things up, even if we mostly have 'no's.'
Today, Sunday, we woke up and went off to do some morning swimming. Arobics are supposed to be better for you on an empty stomach, but doing 2200 meters in the pool before breakfast makes me tired.
After that we went to the mall where we did some looking around and got the Tuxedoes set up for everyone. I'll send out e-mails for that later to the effected parties.
Then we came home and OH MAN I WAS SO TIRED I FELL ASLEEP. Untill Nagano and Tigger started harrying each other under the door. Keeping the two of them apart is almost as much work as keeping them civil when they're together.
Nagano went to the vet this week, too. In three weeks, he gets his last vaccinations and a little bit of 'elective surgery'.
Love and naps.
-N
It turned out that Tigger had hurt himself somehow. We suspect by jumping off the top of the cat condo while being a fat kitty. His back legs were giving him grief. He didn't even want any food. Now that's a sore Tigger. He got better pretty quickly, though, but we've been keeping him and Nagano separated all the time for a while. I don't think Tigger's in the mood for any shenannegans.
After helping him settle in, we went out to watch WANTED with Tabi and Jeff, who are taking care of our cats for us over the 4th of july weekend while we're in Florida. I really liked it. Lots of very creative, very silly action. Way fun.
[;'=[]o009. Nagano typed that.
After that we came back home and picked up the first few round of response cards sent back from invitations. It's pretty fun to open those things up, even if we mostly have 'no's.'
Today, Sunday, we woke up and went off to do some morning swimming. Arobics are supposed to be better for you on an empty stomach, but doing 2200 meters in the pool before breakfast makes me tired.
After that we went to the mall where we did some looking around and got the Tuxedoes set up for everyone. I'll send out e-mails for that later to the effected parties.
Then we came home and OH MAN I WAS SO TIRED I FELL ASLEEP. Untill Nagano and Tigger started harrying each other under the door. Keeping the two of them apart is almost as much work as keeping them civil when they're together.
Nagano went to the vet this week, too. In three weeks, he gets his last vaccinations and a little bit of 'elective surgery'.
Love and naps.
-N
Visiting the Zoo
Yesterday, in our continued effort to enjoy our time not at work, we went to the zoo with one of my labmates. This turned out to be an even better idea than just going to the zoo- Sarah did horticultural stuff there a few summers back, and has been in most all the habitats and know all kinds of secrets about the facility. Like, that the elephants are exercised before the zoo opens by walking around the whole park. In single file, holding their tails with their trunks. How Cool! And that all the monkeys have hidden habitats under the viewing area, and that the gorillas actually have the best one, its like a jungle gym. Oh, and that only one of the gorillas will go outdoors when it snows, and he makes snowballs and brings them inside to pelt other gorillas with. I've got to go back to see that!
We mostly went to check on the elephants. There are TWO pregnant elephants right now, both at around 22 mo pregnant, which is about as pregnant as an elephant is supposed to get. They are due anyday now. While we missed out on baby elephants, we did get to pet a kangaroo (very soft, surprisingly), and see the polarbears swimming from below. SO COOL!
We also watched Get Smart, which made me laugh a LOT. We are pretty much having a great weekend. I'll update soon about my pottery class- stay tuned for 10 weeks of messy comedy.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Bruisers Too
Sorry for the late update. Gordie's team won both games last Monday and are now in first place! Hooray Bruisers Too! He played first base in both games and got home very late. Next Monday is only a single game.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Slowly becoming a Texan
So we're nearly official. Yesterday we went out to the Austin County Tax Assesor's office and got my car registered. We got there a bit early, which was great, because there was very little wait for us. We paid our fees and presto, I have Texas plates. Next, we have to to go the Texas Department of Safety to get our Drivers Licenses. Oddly enough, we're getting ourselves entirely registered without ever actually going to the DMV. Weird.
Also, Nagano had visit #2 to the vet yesterday. He checked out okay, free of stomach bugs, and got part two of his innoculations. At his next visit, we think he'll get neutered. Hopefully it'll calm him down a little without ridding him of that feline personality we've become so attached to. He's so cute.
-N
Also, Nagano had visit #2 to the vet yesterday. He checked out okay, free of stomach bugs, and got part two of his innoculations. At his next visit, we think he'll get neutered. Hopefully it'll calm him down a little without ridding him of that feline personality we've become so attached to. He's so cute.
-N
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Time has passed
Hey,
No video this week. I got some footage from the wedding we went to in LA last week, but after that weekend, Jess and I were in the mood for relaxing, not accomplishing.
So the work week was pretty straightforward, but over the weekend we met up with Tabi and Jeff, friends that we knew in Austin before we moved here. They came over and met Nagano, who seemed to deal with strangers pretty well, and played some Boom Blox, which is an awesome little Wii game that's somewhere between jenga and building/knocking over towers as a little boy. It's fun times. We also went out to a restaurant called ztejas, which is as delicious as its name is weird-looking.
Sunday was pretty lazy, but Jess and I have been hitting various Gyms pretty hard, and so after a sweaty Sunday morning workout, we mostly lazed about all day.
Jess is on a 'planning binge'. For one, we sent out the invitations for our wedding. Yes, I know it's early, but we were getting too many questions from people about the stuff that is usually on invitations, and so bam, there you go. Jess is also in the midst of planning our honeymoon down to Costa Rica. There's a couple of places we're planning to check out, and lots of interesting activities to do. Jess has been alternately frustrated and excited to figure out all the neat things we can do, but I think she's enjoying the process overall, even if I do have to occasionally give her hugs and remind her that we'll be *married* at that point, so the rest will all be details, pretty much.
Also, housing! Jess and I are hoping to buy a house at the end of the year. We're still working the financial angles, but we got in touch with a real estate agent that comes highly recommended by Tabi and Jeff and he sent us some listings. We gave him an estimate of our budget, and he sent us some housing listings. We looked at some of them, and then immediately revised our budget estimate *downward*. We might have been able to afford some of the more expensive houses, but they were literally 'more house than we know what to do with'. I don't think I need crown molding, I'm just saying. (Also the fact that I know what crown molding is speaks to many hours watching HGTV with mom. :) So were definitely excited at the prospect of becoming landed gentry, but it'll be many months before we actually get moved in anywhere. Certainly after the wedding. We're hoping around December.
So that's it for now. Love to everyone.
-N
No video this week. I got some footage from the wedding we went to in LA last week, but after that weekend, Jess and I were in the mood for relaxing, not accomplishing.
So the work week was pretty straightforward, but over the weekend we met up with Tabi and Jeff, friends that we knew in Austin before we moved here. They came over and met Nagano, who seemed to deal with strangers pretty well, and played some Boom Blox, which is an awesome little Wii game that's somewhere between jenga and building/knocking over towers as a little boy. It's fun times. We also went out to a restaurant called ztejas, which is as delicious as its name is weird-looking.
Sunday was pretty lazy, but Jess and I have been hitting various Gyms pretty hard, and so after a sweaty Sunday morning workout, we mostly lazed about all day.
Jess is on a 'planning binge'. For one, we sent out the invitations for our wedding. Yes, I know it's early, but we were getting too many questions from people about the stuff that is usually on invitations, and so bam, there you go. Jess is also in the midst of planning our honeymoon down to Costa Rica. There's a couple of places we're planning to check out, and lots of interesting activities to do. Jess has been alternately frustrated and excited to figure out all the neat things we can do, but I think she's enjoying the process overall, even if I do have to occasionally give her hugs and remind her that we'll be *married* at that point, so the rest will all be details, pretty much.
Also, housing! Jess and I are hoping to buy a house at the end of the year. We're still working the financial angles, but we got in touch with a real estate agent that comes highly recommended by Tabi and Jeff and he sent us some listings. We gave him an estimate of our budget, and he sent us some housing listings. We looked at some of them, and then immediately revised our budget estimate *downward*. We might have been able to afford some of the more expensive houses, but they were literally 'more house than we know what to do with'. I don't think I need crown molding, I'm just saying. (Also the fact that I know what crown molding is speaks to many hours watching HGTV with mom. :) So were definitely excited at the prospect of becoming landed gentry, but it'll be many months before we actually get moved in anywhere. Certainly after the wedding. We're hoping around December.
So that's it for now. Love to everyone.
-N
Monday, June 23, 2008
Funday At Kennywood!
Not to detract from the sweet video posted earlier today (stop reading this, go watch Bart's video!), but I couldn't wait to gush about our weekend trip to Kennywood. On Saturday, I got an email from my undergrad saying he wouldn't be in Monday, his family had planned their annual trip to Kennywood. And it sounded like such a good idea, we decided to go Sunday.
Kennywood is a historic amusement park, minutes away from our apartment. They've got old classic rides like the Whip, and a Grand Carousel, some new fast thrill rides and coasters, and some old wooden coasters. I've heard people use this as a selling point, but I find "Historic Wooden Roller Coaster" lacks a certain appeal. There are actually several places in the park on the National Historic Registry, which gives the place a classic feel.
I cannot lie, I spent a good chunk of the day thinking "this is like at Silverwood, but smaller." True of the whole park, the log ride, the paratrooper, the ice cream, the lagoon... It probably isn't though- I should probably just never go back to Silverwood and ruin my otherwise perfect memories of summers with Nana and Papa in that park.
But it isn't all reminiscing- two of the fast roller coasters are built to descend down a steep cliff at the edge of the park. They send you hurtling at a thousand miles an hour off what looks like the point of no return only to slam your brains and stomach in ultra G force turns. I laughed and screamed so much I was hoarse today. Matt mostly just laughed - he is too stoic for screaming.
We got there shortly after opening, started riding- enjoyed greasy handcut fries and hand-dipped (ie greasy) corn-dogs -followed by a period of low G forces to get our tummies in-line- and rode until almost 10, when the ride we waited so patiently to get to the front of was closed because of the lightening.
We are so good at having fun.
Kennywood is a historic amusement park, minutes away from our apartment. They've got old classic rides like the Whip, and a Grand Carousel, some new fast thrill rides and coasters, and some old wooden coasters. I've heard people use this as a selling point, but I find "Historic Wooden Roller Coaster" lacks a certain appeal. There are actually several places in the park on the National Historic Registry, which gives the place a classic feel.
I cannot lie, I spent a good chunk of the day thinking "this is like at Silverwood, but smaller." True of the whole park, the log ride, the paratrooper, the ice cream, the lagoon... It probably isn't though- I should probably just never go back to Silverwood and ruin my otherwise perfect memories of summers with Nana and Papa in that park.
But it isn't all reminiscing- two of the fast roller coasters are built to descend down a steep cliff at the edge of the park. They send you hurtling at a thousand miles an hour off what looks like the point of no return only to slam your brains and stomach in ultra G force turns. I laughed and screamed so much I was hoarse today. Matt mostly just laughed - he is too stoic for screaming.
We got there shortly after opening, started riding- enjoyed greasy handcut fries and hand-dipped (ie greasy) corn-dogs -followed by a period of low G forces to get our tummies in-line- and rode until almost 10, when the ride we waited so patiently to get to the front of was closed because of the lightening.
We are so good at having fun.
Bart, Rising YouTube Celebrity
Saturday, June 21, 2008
A slice of steel city- or- our best happy hour yet
When our department doesn't host social hours, my co-workers and I often head to some kind of watering hole for cheap beer and greasy food Friday after work. We've explored the VERY cheap beer options of Oakland, and when we feel flush, we sometimes head the other direction to East Liberty for slightly more upscale fare.
This Friday, when we were deciding where to head after work, someone suggested a ballgame. The Pirates Vs Toronto's BlueJays- you can get bleacher seats for $9 !! and there were fireworks after the game. PNC park is a really beautiful stadium, so even though I am not a huge baseball fan, I enjoy going down to the stadium. We took a bus downtown, walked across the Roberto Clemente Bridge, which closes to allow for the pedestrian traffic to the stadium. For dinner we had Primanti's Bro.'s sandwiches- this has the hole stadium experience between two slices of bread- Fries, slaw and everything. The game was actually pretty dry- there were three overtime innings before the Pirates scored the first and last run of the game. The fireworks were spectacular though. Even Matt agreed, it was one of our best happy 'hours' ever.
This Friday, when we were deciding where to head after work, someone suggested a ballgame. The Pirates Vs Toronto's BlueJays- you can get bleacher seats for $9 !! and there were fireworks after the game. PNC park is a really beautiful stadium, so even though I am not a huge baseball fan, I enjoy going down to the stadium. We took a bus downtown, walked across the Roberto Clemente Bridge, which closes to allow for the pedestrian traffic to the stadium. For dinner we had Primanti's Bro.'s sandwiches- this has the hole stadium experience between two slices of bread- Fries, slaw and everything. The game was actually pretty dry- there were three overtime innings before the Pirates scored the first and last run of the game. The fireworks were spectacular though. Even Matt agreed, it was one of our best happy 'hours' ever.
Friday, June 20, 2008
My First Poster
Yesterday was the Cancer Institutes' Retreat, and my boss asked me to take a poster. Think science fair, but professionally printed on a large format printer with lots of data crammed on. This is cool and scary. It is good to give posters- people come talk to you about your work, you get practice and feed back and get to see other people's research. Scary because real scientists want to know real science things about your work, and will tell you exactly what they think about it and you have to see other people look brilliant while they do. And this is my first poster on my project. And I had to go alone. (I am the only one in my lab who studies Cancer, and only in a roundabout way I could explain if I thought anyone cared)
The poster session started at 430 and went until 630, but people kept coming around until 7- so I got to talk to a lot of people. Not the people I thought I would talk to- there are two labs on campus whose interests overlapp with mine, and I am considering as committee members. Those losers missed out. But I got to talk about my work enough times that I felt pretty smoothe by the end when the new head of the DNA repair groups (he is a big deal) came by to talk to me (he recognized my bosses names I think). I didn't even make a fool of myself. I hope.
My boss isn't here yet for a debriefing, but this was kind of a cool career thing- goes on the CV and stuff. And did I mention it was hosted in sunny Greensburg? I get to go to a real conference in July- I am also the only one in my lab who studies DNA tumor viruses so I am going to Madison alone too- which I am feeling better about after this trial run.
In the meantime, I have to do real experiments if I ever want to graduate.
The poster session started at 430 and went until 630, but people kept coming around until 7- so I got to talk to a lot of people. Not the people I thought I would talk to- there are two labs on campus whose interests overlapp with mine, and I am considering as committee members. Those losers missed out. But I got to talk about my work enough times that I felt pretty smoothe by the end when the new head of the DNA repair groups (he is a big deal) came by to talk to me (he recognized my bosses names I think). I didn't even make a fool of myself. I hope.
My boss isn't here yet for a debriefing, but this was kind of a cool career thing- goes on the CV and stuff. And did I mention it was hosted in sunny Greensburg? I get to go to a real conference in July- I am also the only one in my lab who studies DNA tumor viruses so I am going to Madison alone too- which I am feeling better about after this trial run.
In the meantime, I have to do real experiments if I ever want to graduate.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Oo! Restaurant Week!
This week is Pittsburgh's restaurant week. This means fancy restaurants all over town are offering 3 course price fixe for$ 30- which means some of thee upscale places we could never really indulge at will let us in! Last night we went to a Mediterranean place called Casbah, we sat on the patio with raspberry hibiscus iced teas and had a really fun time. When I get rich, I'll go there all the time. It inspired me to make an orange balsamic vinaigrette for my farmshare salad today. I feel like we are living the high life.
I should mention that Pittsburgh will have another restaurant week November 3-7. Visitors? We have an underutilized spare room you know!
I should mention that Pittsburgh will have another restaurant week November 3-7. Visitors? We have an underutilized spare room you know!
More Baseball Scores
Time to update you on the lastest with the Bartlett Bruisers Too. Gordie's team won again!Tthe score was 13 - 3. Gordie had two RBIs and made some good catches. They are already thinking about season 2 which begins on July 21. We will need to check out our construction schedule before Gordie decides if he wants to make a further commitment. Next week there will be two games.
Gooooo Bruisers!
Gooooo Bruisers!
Monday, June 16, 2008
A wedding...someone elses
A bunch of us were tapped to help set up the wedding reception area before the wedding proper happened, so we got a buch of stuff to set up and then 6 or 8 of us all showed up to put everything in it's place. Luckily, all the linnens and tables were taken care of. We got all of that stuff taken care of and then went down to Palos Verdes, big hilly beach area in the south of LA, to watch The Chef and P get married. It was a nice, simple ceremony, and the Chef had sewed her own wedding dress, the dresses of all of her bridesmaids, and 200 pillows for everyone to sit on. Crazy.
The wedding was really nice, and we even got to meet the newest member of our group. D and T had a BABY. Well, mostly T, but D helped! She's just a couple of weeks old, very tiny and cute, and spent most of the wedding and reception alseep.
In the grand tradition of Chinese Weddings in the past, there was entierly too much food, served over a rediculous number of courses. There were also a lot of speaches and cute little additions, like a slide show with pictures of the bride and groom as kids. Adorable. Everyone had a lot of cake, tons of photos and videos were taken, and enjoyment was had by all. We went home and got to sleep by around midnight...
Only to wake up at 4:30 in the morning to drop off the rental and get to the airport for a 6:40 flight. Yuck.
We're home right now, and Jess is catching up on her sleep. I'm not sleepy, but we're definitely taking the rest of the day off. It was a very tiring weekend. Mostly, for me, just being social. I'm normally an introvert, and while I like getting out and doing things, I relax by playing games, resting, and being cuddly and sweet with Jess, none of which are things I can do very much when I'm around people all day long. Jess got worn down too, what with all the wedding stuff, getting dressed up, and seeing everyone again. So, we'll take the rest of the day off, thank you, and enjoy our Kitties, who are excited to have us home. You gotta have a little bit of selfish rest-time, otherwise it's not a proper weekend.
-N
The wedding was really nice, and we even got to meet the newest member of our group. D and T had a BABY. Well, mostly T, but D helped! She's just a couple of weeks old, very tiny and cute, and spent most of the wedding and reception alseep.
In the grand tradition of Chinese Weddings in the past, there was entierly too much food, served over a rediculous number of courses. There were also a lot of speaches and cute little additions, like a slide show with pictures of the bride and groom as kids. Adorable. Everyone had a lot of cake, tons of photos and videos were taken, and enjoyment was had by all. We went home and got to sleep by around midnight...
Only to wake up at 4:30 in the morning to drop off the rental and get to the airport for a 6:40 flight. Yuck.
We're home right now, and Jess is catching up on her sleep. I'm not sleepy, but we're definitely taking the rest of the day off. It was a very tiring weekend. Mostly, for me, just being social. I'm normally an introvert, and while I like getting out and doing things, I relax by playing games, resting, and being cuddly and sweet with Jess, none of which are things I can do very much when I'm around people all day long. Jess got worn down too, what with all the wedding stuff, getting dressed up, and seeing everyone again. So, we'll take the rest of the day off, thank you, and enjoy our Kitties, who are excited to have us home. You gotta have a little bit of selfish rest-time, otherwise it's not a proper weekend.
-N
Good grief, what a weekend
So we went out to LA this weekend for The Chef's wedding. That was a busy weekend, let me tell you. We worked on friday then came home to say bye to the kitties and get our stuff. We went out the airport, flew to LA, and drove right out to hang out with the Hockey chicks. Jess got her championship hat (her team won the last season, but she missed the last game :( and got to see a lot of her old friends. Everyone is doing well, even if the league is going through changes. It always is, the faithful just continue to play hockey.
After that, we went to K.A.T.E.'s house, where K, A, T, and E live. It's a proper bachelor pad, which is to say big TV, messy kitchen, and always stuff happening there. We got there at the same time as everyone else coming back from a night of partying. I'm not entirely sad I missed it. Too much alcohol. Anyway, we crashed at KATE's house for the night, (3 AM, Texas time) and then went to a farmer's market in the morning. I had a 'Pluot'. A cross between, I believe, a plum and an apricot. GOOD FRUIT. Keep an eye out for that one.
I got a bunch of other stuff for breakfast too. Most of which which was strange and foreign, but delicious. After that we went back and Jess was *really* nice to me. Instead of making me go out and do stuff, she let me stay at KATE's and be lazy for a while. Then we had a little impromptu grill session in the backyard and called it a day.
Sunday was CRZY, though. We got up and went to Dim Sum: chinese food, all of it served A La Carte. It's good stuff, especially if you're adventurous. If you're *really* adventurous, though, it's less good (pig intestines, chicken feet, straight-up blood.) I stayed with the parts of the animal I recognized and had a pretty good meal.
After that we hung out with Jason and Megan for a while, which was nice to see, but then...then the wedding started to happen...
After that, we went to K.A.T.E.'s house, where K, A, T, and E live. It's a proper bachelor pad, which is to say big TV, messy kitchen, and always stuff happening there. We got there at the same time as everyone else coming back from a night of partying. I'm not entirely sad I missed it. Too much alcohol. Anyway, we crashed at KATE's house for the night, (3 AM, Texas time) and then went to a farmer's market in the morning. I had a 'Pluot'. A cross between, I believe, a plum and an apricot. GOOD FRUIT. Keep an eye out for that one.
I got a bunch of other stuff for breakfast too. Most of which which was strange and foreign, but delicious. After that we went back and Jess was *really* nice to me. Instead of making me go out and do stuff, she let me stay at KATE's and be lazy for a while. Then we had a little impromptu grill session in the backyard and called it a day.
Sunday was CRZY, though. We got up and went to Dim Sum: chinese food, all of it served A La Carte. It's good stuff, especially if you're adventurous. If you're *really* adventurous, though, it's less good (pig intestines, chicken feet, straight-up blood.) I stayed with the parts of the animal I recognized and had a pretty good meal.
After that we hung out with Jason and Megan for a while, which was nice to see, but then...then the wedding started to happen...
A Night in Pittsburgh: A Vignette
Before I fall asleep at night, I often metally prepare for the next day. This seems to make up for completely forgetting about work by getting my mindset ready for the morning. It often means that I'll wake myself up to think about weird details though.
Last night, I was preparing myself for a big protein purification. I start the day in the virus lab, and spend the rest of the day in the cold room. I woke myself up around 2 wondering when exactly it was safe to pull my sample out of the virus lab. Then, out of no-where, the sky EXPLODED! It ripped itself to deafening shreds like a chorus of kettle-drums for what seemed like long enough for my life to flash before my eyes before the house caved in around m. When it stopped, and I breathed again, I realized it was just a thunderstorm starting. And I would survive to go in to lab another day.
Last night, I was preparing myself for a big protein purification. I start the day in the virus lab, and spend the rest of the day in the cold room. I woke myself up around 2 wondering when exactly it was safe to pull my sample out of the virus lab. Then, out of no-where, the sky EXPLODED! It ripped itself to deafening shreds like a chorus of kettle-drums for what seemed like long enough for my life to flash before my eyes before the house caved in around m. When it stopped, and I breathed again, I realized it was just a thunderstorm starting. And I would survive to go in to lab another day.
Friday, June 13, 2008
Eureka!!
My science FINALLY worked!! This is sing-and-dance exciting. This is such a relief I actually teared up when I read the image this morning. This is a good day.
Without boring you in the details of what the science was, I've been holding my breath all week for this next round of trouble shooting an experiment I've been working on exclusively since April. I've been working on this exclusively because it is the final pending experiment for my former mentor's paper. This a good news on a lot of fronts:
- my mentor's paper can go out, which she has been waiting for since she graduated
- my boss no longer thinks I am inept
- *I * get authorship on a paper, and a double bonus, my guilt about being on this paper for 'hardly any work' was completely diminished by mid-May
- and I can finally move on to other experiments. This is a big on for me (even if the last one is better in the long run). I realized after my comprehensive exam that if you are going to work long hours for little pay there obviously has to be another motivation to go in. (Working ~60 hrs a week, I stop making minimum wage, which I do when things don't work) Killing myself for an experiment that won't budge makes the salary seem really tiny, especially when there are more interesting things I would like to be doing.
Of course my boss is away, so I emailed him the result. He wrote back, and as expected, asked me to try it once more, with one more concentration on the titration. But I'll be happy to do it because I know it works now.
Happy Dance!!
Without boring you in the details of what the science was, I've been holding my breath all week for this next round of trouble shooting an experiment I've been working on exclusively since April. I've been working on this exclusively because it is the final pending experiment for my former mentor's paper. This a good news on a lot of fronts:
- my mentor's paper can go out, which she has been waiting for since she graduated
- my boss no longer thinks I am inept
- *I * get authorship on a paper, and a double bonus, my guilt about being on this paper for 'hardly any work' was completely diminished by mid-May
- and I can finally move on to other experiments. This is a big on for me (even if the last one is better in the long run). I realized after my comprehensive exam that if you are going to work long hours for little pay there obviously has to be another motivation to go in. (Working ~60 hrs a week, I stop making minimum wage, which I do when things don't work) Killing myself for an experiment that won't budge makes the salary seem really tiny, especially when there are more interesting things I would like to be doing.
Of course my boss is away, so I emailed him the result. He wrote back, and as expected, asked me to try it once more, with one more concentration on the titration. But I'll be happy to do it because I know it works now.
Happy Dance!!
Thursday, June 12, 2008
We're on our way!
So we're spending this weekend back home in LA, attending a wedding ('The Chef', for those of you from my old blog). It should be good fun, even if we have to set up all the stuff for the reception before heading down to the wedding. And I say this because I've been put in charge of the wine table. FUN TIMES!
We got some house-sitters, *professional ones* to come out to our place a couple of times over the weekend to check on the Kittens and play with them and do the feeding and the scooping and the like. They're a very nice, retired, European couple from Yugoslavia that have been doing this for several years. They come over yesterday to pick up the house key and meet the kittens and, evidently, talk our ears off. They're really nice, though, and it's good to have dry run considering we're going out to Florida over the 4th of July weekend and then a couple of weeks later this year when we...what was it? Oh yeah, get married.
Speaking of which, Jess has been looking into flying us from florida down to our 'Presumptive Honeymoon Nominee' of...wait for it...Costa Rica! It turns out the flight is pretty inexpensive, and there seems to be a lot of interesting things to do. Excitement!
-N
We got some house-sitters, *professional ones* to come out to our place a couple of times over the weekend to check on the Kittens and play with them and do the feeding and the scooping and the like. They're a very nice, retired, European couple from Yugoslavia that have been doing this for several years. They come over yesterday to pick up the house key and meet the kittens and, evidently, talk our ears off. They're really nice, though, and it's good to have dry run considering we're going out to Florida over the 4th of July weekend and then a couple of weeks later this year when we...what was it? Oh yeah, get married.
Speaking of which, Jess has been looking into flying us from florida down to our 'Presumptive Honeymoon Nominee' of...wait for it...Costa Rica! It turns out the flight is pretty inexpensive, and there seems to be a lot of interesting things to do. Excitement!
-N
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Baseball Update
Gordie had a game last night. The final score was 18 to 10 with Bruisers Too winning again! Gordie got a few runners out on first and had a walk and at least one run is accreditted to him. Afterward was a barbeque in the parking lot and I met a few of his very nice team mates. There is one player who does not eat pork so he could not eat our (now famous) baked beans.
-C
-C
Monday, June 9, 2008
Oh yeah- it's Monday everywhere
Today started out as bumpy an awkward as any normal too hot Monday would. I got a message that the department's water distiller (we have Distilled Water taps at every sink) was leaking - on to some expensive equipment upstairs. Not mine, but I empathize.
Since I am trying to pull together a poster, I am digging up old files on old computers. No sooner have I found what I am looking for than the power goes out. We have just enough time to double check all our important equipment is on back up generators when the fire alarm goes off. Assuming this is real, I grab my computer and head outside into the withering heat with everyone else. 20 min later the building is cleared, but the power is still out. Science being what it is, there isn't much we can do in the dark without power. So we walked to Starbucks for iced coffees. Their ice machine broke (right after we got our drinks).
All told, the power was out for about 2 hours, with most of us huddled in the halls under emergency light trying to read papers. This sort of thing isn't good for my professional dignity.
UPDATE: And then we had another fire alarm
Since I am trying to pull together a poster, I am digging up old files on old computers. No sooner have I found what I am looking for than the power goes out. We have just enough time to double check all our important equipment is on back up generators when the fire alarm goes off. Assuming this is real, I grab my computer and head outside into the withering heat with everyone else. 20 min later the building is cleared, but the power is still out. Science being what it is, there isn't much we can do in the dark without power. So we walked to Starbucks for iced coffees. Their ice machine broke (right after we got our drinks).
All told, the power was out for about 2 hours, with most of us huddled in the halls under emergency light trying to read papers. This sort of thing isn't good for my professional dignity.
UPDATE: And then we had another fire alarm
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Feline Condominium
It's been a relatively lazy weekend. We went out to the library, slept in a bit, and, obviously, made you guys a new movie. Enjoy,
-N
Pictures from Skagway!
Pictures of our day trip to Skagway, AK include breathtaking views from the flight over the icefields are here.
Thursday, we had tickets from Wings to fly to Skagway. Matt and I honeymooned here. We had fun then, and thought we might like something mid-week to break up the Juneau of the trip. Turns out it was an inspired idea. Our flight over was a small turbo prop that seated 10 + pilots. We flew out over the Juneau icefields. Since the weather was, again, perfect we got some great pictures of the stunning views up there. We grabbed breakfast and, declining a ride out to the Chilkoot Trailhead, hiked up to Lower Dewey Lake. It was early, calm and clear- how restful. We lunched at the Red Onion Saloon- a former brothel that gives tours (thus the chorus girls). We did some shopping, and eventually wandered out to Yakutania Point, a point coarsely carved from granite. Both the wind and views were spectacular. We grabbed a pint at the Skagway Brew Co (yum!) before heading back home. The flight with Wings was overbooked, so an extra plane was sent from Juneau for the 4 of us. What they sent was a LITTLE 6 seater, that once again flew back over the icefields. Jessi was the co-pilot, and our pilot did his best to show off the sights on our trip home. We we got out of the plane, we hugged him, it was so amazingly beautiful (and slightly terrifying).
Still battling with one more online album, which includes pictures of Kelsey being a dork right here in America. Stay tuned!
Coping with Summer
Summer has arrived.
Here it doesn't arrive like other places, with hot sunny days and baby birds. Here it arrived on a Thundercloud, so it can stifle the city with heat and humidity. As I write this it is 90 degrees, 30 percent humidity and not a bit of sky to be seen. And June is the 'nice' month.
Matt and I decided that, in the favor of marital bliss, we should buy another AC unit. We had 2, a noisy but ineffective one for the huge living room, and a small quiet one in the bed room. This makes sleeping ok, but doing anything in the rest of the house (like conversing) really irritating. The purchase of the new AC means we are going to take this seriously- set up a system of fans to move the gross air away, close off spaces we don't use, and figure out which appliances we can still use. I'll keep you updated.
The upside of summer, is that my farmshare is back. This year the the system has been really updated, so I can order ala carte items in addition to my vegetable subscription, and it actually gets delivered to our break room. Farmer friendly places like Austin probably have programs like this too... This week, the vegetable box included enough leafy greens that I bought a salad spinner, and two items I need help with. I got a bunch of rosemary (yum!) and a bunch of radishes (eh). I can't think of anything to do with rosemary that doesn't require the oven to be on a long time, and I am not sure I like radish enough to just eat that many. Thoughts?
Here it doesn't arrive like other places, with hot sunny days and baby birds. Here it arrived on a Thundercloud, so it can stifle the city with heat and humidity. As I write this it is 90 degrees, 30 percent humidity and not a bit of sky to be seen. And June is the 'nice' month.
Matt and I decided that, in the favor of marital bliss, we should buy another AC unit. We had 2, a noisy but ineffective one for the huge living room, and a small quiet one in the bed room. This makes sleeping ok, but doing anything in the rest of the house (like conversing) really irritating. The purchase of the new AC means we are going to take this seriously- set up a system of fans to move the gross air away, close off spaces we don't use, and figure out which appliances we can still use. I'll keep you updated.
The upside of summer, is that my farmshare is back. This year the the system has been really updated, so I can order ala carte items in addition to my vegetable subscription, and it actually gets delivered to our break room. Farmer friendly places like Austin probably have programs like this too... This week, the vegetable box included enough leafy greens that I bought a salad spinner, and two items I need help with. I got a bunch of rosemary (yum!) and a bunch of radishes (eh). I can't think of anything to do with rosemary that doesn't require the oven to be on a long time, and I am not sure I like radish enough to just eat that many. Thoughts?
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Sad day in the Steel City
By now I hope you've heard- the Pens lost the Stanley Cup. Mostly we aren't talking about it here- but since no one can come up with anything else to say, it is a very quiet day. I am not sure if this is grounds for hating everything that comes from Detroit (we hate Cleavland, Philly and Baltimore for similar reasons), I'll keep you updated.
Nagano is Healthy, mostly
We took Nagano to his first Vet visit yesterday. It all went pretty well, overall. He really didn't like being kept inside the carrier, but all he did was meow in an incredibly adorable fashion. We let him out when we got into the exam room but kept him from going too crazy by distracting him with business cards and other things for him to paw at.
He got the normal exam and didn't really like it much, of course, but was a pretty good cat about it for the most part. He tested negative for FEV and Feline Lukemia (yay!) but he does have a little intestinal parasite. Some single-celled thing. We just have to give him medicine for the next 10 days and bring in Tigger to make sure he doesn't have it. We could probably get away with not bringing Ttigger in, but it'd be nice to get him back to the vet again. He can be a serious pain, but the vet clinic assures us they're used to problem cats, and since all they do is cat medecine, I tend to believe them.
We also got Nagano his first shots, and he's been feeling a little down ever since we got back. Of course, for Nagano, 'a little down' means 'not spastically pawing at everything in the house that moves'. So he's doing okay.
Yes, yes, I'll try and get some more footage of the kittens this weekend, but Jess and I are trying to get ourselves into a schedule, especially now that we have to keep an eye on cats so much.
Loves,
-N
He got the normal exam and didn't really like it much, of course, but was a pretty good cat about it for the most part. He tested negative for FEV and Feline Lukemia (yay!) but he does have a little intestinal parasite. Some single-celled thing. We just have to give him medicine for the next 10 days and bring in Tigger to make sure he doesn't have it. We could probably get away with not bringing Ttigger in, but it'd be nice to get him back to the vet again. He can be a serious pain, but the vet clinic assures us they're used to problem cats, and since all they do is cat medecine, I tend to believe them.
We also got Nagano his first shots, and he's been feeling a little down ever since we got back. Of course, for Nagano, 'a little down' means 'not spastically pawing at everything in the house that moves'. So he's doing okay.
Yes, yes, I'll try and get some more footage of the kittens this weekend, but Jess and I are trying to get ourselves into a schedule, especially now that we have to keep an eye on cats so much.
Loves,
-N
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Partial Alaska Update
Forgive me, I am having trouble integrating iPhoto, Picasa and Blogger. Since this was going to be an enormous post anyway, I'll post what is working tonight and get the rest out soon, I promise
Pictures from around town, including the Mount Roberts' Tram, our boat trip with Dennis and an insane beach landing are here. http://picasaweb.google.com/sandlin.preecs/Days4578Juneau
Watch for Orange Gumbi suits and a pod of orcas.
On Tuesday, Dad loaned us the Hospital's Tram passes, so we started the day up there. Unfortunately, record snows from the winter were hanging around so we couldn't hike. But Matt did get to demonstrate his glicading technique (these are pictures of him slipping down a snowy slope, and later a snowy bum). After buying stuff at Kelsey's work, we swung out to the Alaskan Brewing Co. for samples and a tour.
Our boat trip with Dennis probably merits an entire post of it's own, but I'll just cover the highlights. These include a beach landing at Sentinal Island to Explore the lighthouse. The belching Sea Lions of Benjamen Island were next, then another beach landing for a picnic lunch. We explored the tide pools here, before Dennis whisked us off to the Northern Passage. Since we had to stop the boat for a whale anyway(?!), Dennis taught us how to get into survival suits (yeah- orange) and put us in the water with nothing but a frosty Alaskan. As we floated out for a picture, a sea lion popped up a few yards off just to say hi. We floated out in the open water for about an hour before piling back into the boat. The rest of the way back was punctuated by innummerable Humpback Whale sightings- Dennis has a 6th sense or something- amazing displays, if not photos.
Friday was pretty mellow- we made it as far as the State Museum before heading out to visit Dennis with pizza and beer. Saturday, Dad took us on a Hospital Fundraiser Whale Watching cruise. Although I didn't think we could be impressed by wildlife after ur day with Dennis (just 9 sea lions? Please, they were hardly belching) I was floored when we found a pod of Killer Whale- 15-20 or them taking lots of air breaks for the little ones and keeping a steady pace that our tour boat followed for 45 min? Really incredible. Really the drama was supposed to end there, but while we were sitting at home procrastinating packing, a barge pulled up on to the break to off load several dumptrucks of gravel and some heavy equipment to our next door neighbor's yard. Wow!
If this isn't enough- you can find an additional 500 or so images on Jessi's site: http://jessibo.shutterfly.com/action/
Clearly, an incredible trip. We'll have to find more friends to take home and show off for soon.
Some of these photos were incorporated into the slide show- so keep and eye out. Regarding the slide show- it is currently linked from an album on my Picasa site. Anyone could either switch the album, to say, one of their own creation, or email please me images that I can drop in there.
Pictures from around town, including the Mount Roberts' Tram, our boat trip with Dennis and an insane beach landing are here. http://picasaweb.google.com/sandlin.preecs/Days4578Juneau
Watch for Orange Gumbi suits and a pod of orcas.
On Tuesday, Dad loaned us the Hospital's Tram passes, so we started the day up there. Unfortunately, record snows from the winter were hanging around so we couldn't hike. But Matt did get to demonstrate his glicading technique (these are pictures of him slipping down a snowy slope, and later a snowy bum). After buying stuff at Kelsey's work, we swung out to the Alaskan Brewing Co. for samples and a tour.
Our boat trip with Dennis probably merits an entire post of it's own, but I'll just cover the highlights. These include a beach landing at Sentinal Island to Explore the lighthouse. The belching Sea Lions of Benjamen Island were next, then another beach landing for a picnic lunch. We explored the tide pools here, before Dennis whisked us off to the Northern Passage. Since we had to stop the boat for a whale anyway(?!), Dennis taught us how to get into survival suits (yeah- orange) and put us in the water with nothing but a frosty Alaskan. As we floated out for a picture, a sea lion popped up a few yards off just to say hi. We floated out in the open water for about an hour before piling back into the boat. The rest of the way back was punctuated by innummerable Humpback Whale sightings- Dennis has a 6th sense or something- amazing displays, if not photos.
Friday was pretty mellow- we made it as far as the State Museum before heading out to visit Dennis with pizza and beer. Saturday, Dad took us on a Hospital Fundraiser Whale Watching cruise. Although I didn't think we could be impressed by wildlife after ur day with Dennis (just 9 sea lions? Please, they were hardly belching) I was floored when we found a pod of Killer Whale- 15-20 or them taking lots of air breaks for the little ones and keeping a steady pace that our tour boat followed for 45 min? Really incredible. Really the drama was supposed to end there, but while we were sitting at home procrastinating packing, a barge pulled up on to the break to off load several dumptrucks of gravel and some heavy equipment to our next door neighbor's yard. Wow!
If this isn't enough- you can find an additional 500 or so images on Jessi's site: http://jessibo.shutterfly.com/action/
Clearly, an incredible trip. We'll have to find more friends to take home and show off for soon.
Some of these photos were incorporated into the slide show- so keep and eye out. Regarding the slide show- it is currently linked from an album on my Picasa site. Anyone could either switch the album, to say, one of their own creation, or email please me images that I can drop in there.
More Kittens?
Hey,
Just so you all know, Jess has made her own neat little blog with a bunch of movies and pictures of our adorable cats.
Find it here!
-N
Just so you all know, Jess has made her own neat little blog with a bunch of movies and pictures of our adorable cats.
Find it here!
-N
Alton Brown does Alaska
Just had a visit with a wounded cook from Auke Bay's apparently famous "Hot Bite" (she got a speck in her eye...no problem). She told me she was recently tasked to prepare a plate of halibut cheeks and selected chowders for Alton Brown as he made his way through Southeast Alaska for a story on Alaskan Seafood. No cameras in evidence but an editor from Food Network accompanied him, so some verbal references and printed allusions my be forthcoming in his future work. Pay attention, we could be famous!
Gordie
Gordie
Kelsey's First Photo Release...
This is a link to Kelsey's first cut of photos from her trip. Please enjoy...Gordie and Connie
http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=chqm4cf.bo206tgz&Uy=oyk4r3&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0&UV=33240087075_397000931603&localeid=en_US
http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=chqm4cf.bo206tgz&Uy=oyk4r3&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0&UV=33240087075_397000931603&localeid=en_US
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Plaaaay Ball!
Gordie had two games last night and his team (Bartlett Bruisers Too) won both games. Against the Troopers the score was 14-13, and against the JPD Busters, 13-5. I watched the first game and saw Gordie get a base hit and scored a run, get quite a few people out at first and got knocked down and fall down a couple of times all in the attempt to be a great team player. I didn't see the second game but heard that Gordie scored a double play! And he got a few runs in that game, too. The weather was overcast but no rain, very pleasant.
My impression of this level of league play.... scoring is flexible with each team keeping track of their own scores, the umpire is casual but fair and everyone cheers when anyone makes a good play regardless of the team. I tried to keep score at the first game and my numbers did not match what was eventually decided, as I said the scoring is flexible.
Gordie is on a great team. Everyone watches and encourage each other. People enjoy just getting out to play and are surprised when someone other than the ball players watch the game.
I will keep you posted on further games.
Connie
My impression of this level of league play.... scoring is flexible with each team keeping track of their own scores, the umpire is casual but fair and everyone cheers when anyone makes a good play regardless of the team. I tried to keep score at the first game and my numbers did not match what was eventually decided, as I said the scoring is flexible.
Gordie is on a great team. Everyone watches and encourage each other. People enjoy just getting out to play and are surprised when someone other than the ball players watch the game.
I will keep you posted on further games.
Connie
So much entertainment
Hello,
Nagano and Tigger continue to 'sorta' get along. Occasionally they'll just hang out and be lazy cats next to each other, but usually Nagano wants to pounce on something, so Jess and I spend a lot of time entertaining him so he won't torment Tigger too much. He's still totally adorable.
Jess has also discovered that NetFlix has Heroes online, so we can watch it whenever we want. We started on saturday, and are rapidly coming up to the season finale as we speak. Good show.
-N
Nagano and Tigger continue to 'sorta' get along. Occasionally they'll just hang out and be lazy cats next to each other, but usually Nagano wants to pounce on something, so Jess and I spend a lot of time entertaining him so he won't torment Tigger too much. He's still totally adorable.
Jess has also discovered that NetFlix has Heroes online, so we can watch it whenever we want. We started on saturday, and are rapidly coming up to the season finale as we speak. Good show.
-N
Go Pens!
I promise to finish sorting photos soon, and will post on the trip home when that is done. Needless to say, it was wonderfully fun, and we made it back safe. In the meantime, I haven't spent nearly enough time on Pittsburgh's latest Obsession- Stanley Cup. Hockey season is about to end and there can only be one champion- and Steel City is throwing her support behind the home team.
I've sort of come to expect this from living here, it was the time at home that reminded me that was a learned behavior. No discussions of the hits to score ratios, no drink specials for the games, actually- no one at home commented on it much. But here?? Everyone was late and groggy this morning since they had to stay up late to watch the Pens tie Detroit 35 seconds before the end of the game and were on the edge of their seats for the next 3 overtime periods! We must win our next two games to take it, but you better believe everyone in town thinks they will. Next game is Wednesday, live on Vs. - or if you live here, any institution with a TV. Stay tuned!
I've sort of come to expect this from living here, it was the time at home that reminded me that was a learned behavior. No discussions of the hits to score ratios, no drink specials for the games, actually- no one at home commented on it much. But here?? Everyone was late and groggy this morning since they had to stay up late to watch the Pens tie Detroit 35 seconds before the end of the game and were on the edge of their seats for the next 3 overtime periods! We must win our next two games to take it, but you better believe everyone in town thinks they will. Next game is Wednesday, live on Vs. - or if you live here, any institution with a TV. Stay tuned!
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