Sorry I didn't update about the end of season one. Gordie's team ended up in second place. And Gordie scored several times. What a hero!
The second season started on Monday, July 28. They were set to play two games. The final scores were Bruisers Too beating Bar Flies 17-8 ( this is a group of lawyers) and Bruisers Too winning again against Local 52 Terminators 9-5 (a group of ...locals). But the sad news is that Gordie suffered an injury in the first game. As he caught a ball at first for an out he turned and did something bad to his calf muscle. So he was out for the rest of the evening. His leg is kind of puffy and he walks really funny so we will see if he is able to bounce back enough to continue to play.
I hope he can keep playing, this group has done some nice barbeques.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Final Score from Wisconson
After I've had a bit of time to collect my thoughts, I wanted to give a more complete impression of my time in Madison. As I said, this was my first real conference, so I didn't know what to expect. I can only imagine my dear readers have no idea what I am talking about. While my naive impression was that conferences are where the nerds go to get their "Sitting Through Lectures" Merit badge, this was a lot more about networking. And a lot less about sleeping.
I went with Dr. Rockstar (who left me to my own devices) and one of his undergrads, and we fared Quite Well. I did see every talk that was even remotely relevant to my work (a small chunk of the 120 talks given), presented my own work at a poster session and met a lot of people. I met (among others) the guy who discovered one of the first viruses in our family in 36 years, the guys who actually found the (other) virus in cancer cells, the lab that had been studying the cancer and were surprised to find out they were virologists, Dr. Rockstar's fav grad student and his lab, the FDA lab that historically studied our virus after its release into the human population (this was an accident), Dr. Rockstar's wife and Dr. Rockstar's band. I wouldn't call him that for no reason.
The band actually came to play at the final banquet/ball. They are a cover band, and they took audience requests so long as well all kept dancing. And Dr. Rockstar's undergrad and I couldn't stand the possibility of having attended the "most sedate meeting ever" (according to the Old Guard), so we endeavored to get a lot of the people we had met dancing with us. And we did. Believe it or not, there is nothing a famous scientist likes more than a big dance party. We kept a private tally of all the famous people who would dance with us. And we danced until the banquet hall kicked us out. It was a great party, and I think Dr. Rockstar no longer thinks I am such a nerd.
Update on the scoop: my (now favorite) collaborator pulled me aside at the banquet to tell me she had talked to Dr. Bigbucks to see how far along they were on MY PROJECT, and gave me some really good advice/ things to tell my boss. And then she said she would go talk to the editor of the journal that we submitted our paper to and cheer lead a bit. What a wonderful woman.
Final Score: Days in Madison: 5
Talks heard: 80
Icecreams eaten: 9
Poster presented: 1
Nights out past bedtime: 3
Famous Scientists Danced with: 4
Improved interest in my science: 5X
I went with Dr. Rockstar (who left me to my own devices) and one of his undergrads, and we fared Quite Well. I did see every talk that was even remotely relevant to my work (a small chunk of the 120 talks given), presented my own work at a poster session and met a lot of people. I met (among others) the guy who discovered one of the first viruses in our family in 36 years, the guys who actually found the (other) virus in cancer cells, the lab that had been studying the cancer and were surprised to find out they were virologists, Dr. Rockstar's fav grad student and his lab, the FDA lab that historically studied our virus after its release into the human population (this was an accident), Dr. Rockstar's wife and Dr. Rockstar's band. I wouldn't call him that for no reason.
The band actually came to play at the final banquet/ball. They are a cover band, and they took audience requests so long as well all kept dancing. And Dr. Rockstar's undergrad and I couldn't stand the possibility of having attended the "most sedate meeting ever" (according to the Old Guard), so we endeavored to get a lot of the people we had met dancing with us. And we did. Believe it or not, there is nothing a famous scientist likes more than a big dance party. We kept a private tally of all the famous people who would dance with us. And we danced until the banquet hall kicked us out. It was a great party, and I think Dr. Rockstar no longer thinks I am such a nerd.
Update on the scoop: my (now favorite) collaborator pulled me aside at the banquet to tell me she had talked to Dr. Bigbucks to see how far along they were on MY PROJECT, and gave me some really good advice/ things to tell my boss. And then she said she would go talk to the editor of the journal that we submitted our paper to and cheer lead a bit. What a wonderful woman.
Final Score: Days in Madison: 5
Talks heard: 80
Icecreams eaten: 9
Poster presented: 1
Nights out past bedtime: 3
Famous Scientists Danced with: 4
Improved interest in my science: 5X
Saturday, July 26, 2008
New Kitten Movie!
Well I've gotten enough requests for one, so here it is, another movie featuring my adorable kitten.
This one is on Youtube, which seems to be about the same as Google video, just a little easier to upload to. Let me know what you think.
This one is on Youtube, which seems to be about the same as Google video, just a little easier to upload to. Let me know what you think.
Tubing
Yesterday a bunch of us at Ticom skipped off of work and floated down the river on inner tubes. I'm not sure whose idea it was originally, but word got around that we should all meet up at George's house (he's my boss!) for some breakfast and then go out to the Guadalupe river (pronounced Guad-a-loop here in Texas for some reason), bring a whole lot of beers, and float for about 4 hours.
It was a tube-load of fun. We got to hang out with a bunch of people we work with that we haven't gotten to spend a lot of time with before, and everyone had a really great time. Jess did some butterfly races with fellow swimmers and I ran a beer/watermellon delivery service for a while. One of the most exciting episodes happend when we were all swimming around and a few of our tubes got away from us and got swept down some swift-moving water. Too shallow to swim through, but too deep and fast to walk through, I ended up flopping my way down the river, tubeless, bonking up my shins a little bit, but otherwise doing just fine. We caught up with the tubes, though, and all was well.
After the river, we went to a nearby restaurant to get some food, and then our DDs took us home. Hurrah!
Tonight we're going to the Master Pancake Theatre (think MST3K, but live) presentation of Catwoman, one of the worst movies I have ever seen. It should be hilarious.
Also, I'll be working on another kitten movie today. It may come out later, if you're good.
-N
It was a tube-load of fun. We got to hang out with a bunch of people we work with that we haven't gotten to spend a lot of time with before, and everyone had a really great time. Jess did some butterfly races with fellow swimmers and I ran a beer/watermellon delivery service for a while. One of the most exciting episodes happend when we were all swimming around and a few of our tubes got away from us and got swept down some swift-moving water. Too shallow to swim through, but too deep and fast to walk through, I ended up flopping my way down the river, tubeless, bonking up my shins a little bit, but otherwise doing just fine. We caught up with the tubes, though, and all was well.
After the river, we went to a nearby restaurant to get some food, and then our DDs took us home. Hurrah!
Tonight we're going to the Master Pancake Theatre (think MST3K, but live) presentation of Catwoman, one of the worst movies I have ever seen. It should be hilarious.
Also, I'll be working on another kitten movie today. It may come out later, if you're good.
-N
Did I hear a scoop?
Still in Madison this morning, which has been a really interesting, stimulating experience. Up until now I was floating in a cloud of bliss that my project was foresighted enough to look for viral inhibitors before they got so hot. See, this winter, a group showed that a very closely related virus causes very aggressive cancer. This has been a major highlight of the meeting. I had been confident that while drug discovery would get popular, we had a head start.
This morning I got up early for a talk from Yale where Dr. BigMoney showed that they have a high through-put screen, and some inhibitors, and that their system for testing against the whole family of viruses was established. Just yesterday I was outlining the paper I might publish in a few years where we described out screen, show our drugs and show how nicely they work on other members of the family. I am still trying to process how bad this is- our screen is faster and more specific, but required a lot more follow-up experiments = time. Of course we won't find the same drugs, but in this field you just have to be first. My other adviser Dr. Rockstar who is here with me says I just need to work faster- people were bound to be interested in this now that it is so fundable.
We'll see what my boss says, but I am feeling very shaken. Is their screen better? Can my plan get better? How far along are they? How much am I willing to sacrifice to catch up? Is it too late??
Today is the last day of the conference, and the ball. I'll be back in Pittsburgh Sunday night, which may results in some delayed phone calls home. I'll give a better description of ths conference when I've had some time for reflection.
This morning I got up early for a talk from Yale where Dr. BigMoney showed that they have a high through-put screen, and some inhibitors, and that their system for testing against the whole family of viruses was established. Just yesterday I was outlining the paper I might publish in a few years where we described out screen, show our drugs and show how nicely they work on other members of the family. I am still trying to process how bad this is- our screen is faster and more specific, but required a lot more follow-up experiments = time. Of course we won't find the same drugs, but in this field you just have to be first. My other adviser Dr. Rockstar who is here with me says I just need to work faster- people were bound to be interested in this now that it is so fundable.
We'll see what my boss says, but I am feeling very shaken. Is their screen better? Can my plan get better? How far along are they? How much am I willing to sacrifice to catch up? Is it too late??
Today is the last day of the conference, and the ball. I'll be back in Pittsburgh Sunday night, which may results in some delayed phone calls home. I'll give a better description of ths conference when I've had some time for reflection.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
My First professional conference
Howdy from Wisconsin!
Turns out we do get internet access out here, even if there is no time to use it. Since we arrived there have been constant string on talks and seminars and talks and then networking and trying to find people who will talk to me even though I am just a grad student. Most people know both my bosses, which puts me in a very nice position for talking to strangers. I've met my "scientific cousins" (grad students in a lab begat by my boss), and some important people. Today was my big day- I presented my poster. I met a bunch of people I didn't expect to who were really excited about my work, and possible collaboration, but (again), the people I expected to come by didn't. Maybe I don't get it. Anyway, I get to sit back and enjoy listening to 10 min talks form 9am-11pm for the rest of the week.
I'll try to post again when I feel more coherent, sufficing to say we made it, and I am trying to keep my head above water until I go home Sunday. Wish me luck!
Turns out we do get internet access out here, even if there is no time to use it. Since we arrived there have been constant string on talks and seminars and talks and then networking and trying to find people who will talk to me even though I am just a grad student. Most people know both my bosses, which puts me in a very nice position for talking to strangers. I've met my "scientific cousins" (grad students in a lab begat by my boss), and some important people. Today was my big day- I presented my poster. I met a bunch of people I didn't expect to who were really excited about my work, and possible collaboration, but (again), the people I expected to come by didn't. Maybe I don't get it. Anyway, I get to sit back and enjoy listening to 10 min talks form 9am-11pm for the rest of the week.
I'll try to post again when I feel more coherent, sufficing to say we made it, and I am trying to keep my head above water until I go home Sunday. Wish me luck!
Monday, July 21, 2008
Not a promotion, Mandatory Overtime
Matt's department had a meeting today. While I can't full describe the details, they basically re-allocated the high ranking responsibilities to teams. Matt being versatile and a fast learner, they are hoping to move him to different teams depending on the needs of the department. This does require him to take up some of the responsibilities he was dreading, so I am not pleased for him. The whole department has also been assigned mandatory overtime (8 hours a week!) "until such time as 6 more people can be hired." 6 more people!! I am annoyed because this means a lot more time out of the house for Matt, and it seems like he'll be one of the last to be let off OT.
Being an old fashioned company, they aren't inclined to re-evaluate anyones salaries until they are up for review. Fortunately for Matt, this is in October for him. Presumably if he keeps a stiff upper lip and looks like a real team player, they can make it worth his while. He seems optimistic that this will work itself out eventually, and that he'll get paid for his efforts at some point. All this overtime makes him anxious to spend his windfall, so he would rather talk about big TVs than job-seeking.
Being an old fashioned company, they aren't inclined to re-evaluate anyones salaries until they are up for review. Fortunately for Matt, this is in October for him. Presumably if he keeps a stiff upper lip and looks like a real team player, they can make it worth his while. He seems optimistic that this will work itself out eventually, and that he'll get paid for his efforts at some point. All this overtime makes him anxious to spend his windfall, so he would rather talk about big TVs than job-seeking.
Aging Gracefully
It's my birthday. I am turning 25. I've been feeling lately like that ought to be significant, or by now "I" ought to be significant (I am entering my 21st year in school, is that an accomplishment?), but right now I am feeling ok to just enjoy the day. Matt was extra super wonderful to me all weekend, and besides dragging me across the park until my shoulders turned in to hot red tomatoes, we've done a lot of nice/ productive Sandlin-centric stuff this weekend. On Friday, my bay-mate and I headed into the strip district for a wine tasting, which made us feel classy. Matt joined us and we followed that up with tapas at a posh Carribean restaurant Kaya.
Saturday after a cold shower and long nap (that car show was scorching!) we went to a nice fish place called Mitchell's. I'd heard this place was nice and affordable, and our waiter helped us avoid the farmed fishes, so we enjoyed a really tasty guilt-free meal. Sunday I got to open my birthday present- a new Kelty backpack, replete with pockets, lashings and space. I am packing into it for my trip to Madison.
At work today, we got to celebrate a labmate turning in his comprehensive exam (for a different department), so coffee and donuts in the morning. We all walked out for lunch time salads and then my bay-mate brought in a HUGE chocolate cake from the cities BEST bakery, the Oakmont. And just when I thought I couldn't move again for celebrating, they brought me a Bubble Tea. The bubbles remind me too much of fish eyes, but Matt found you can get a lot of distance of a tapioca ball shot back through its straw. No less than TWO cutlery related packages arrived, so I am organizing the knives in the woodblock to maximize kitchen efficiency and sharpening my old dull knifes. How fun!
Saturday after a cold shower and long nap (that car show was scorching!) we went to a nice fish place called Mitchell's. I'd heard this place was nice and affordable, and our waiter helped us avoid the farmed fishes, so we enjoyed a really tasty guilt-free meal. Sunday I got to open my birthday present- a new Kelty backpack, replete with pockets, lashings and space. I am packing into it for my trip to Madison.
At work today, we got to celebrate a labmate turning in his comprehensive exam (for a different department), so coffee and donuts in the morning. We all walked out for lunch time salads and then my bay-mate brought in a HUGE chocolate cake from the cities BEST bakery, the Oakmont. And just when I thought I couldn't move again for celebrating, they brought me a Bubble Tea. The bubbles remind me too much of fish eyes, but Matt found you can get a lot of distance of a tapioca ball shot back through its straw. No less than TWO cutlery related packages arrived, so I am organizing the knives in the woodblock to maximize kitchen efficiency and sharpening my old dull knifes. How fun!
Sunday, July 20, 2008
4th of July Movie
I made another video! This one is less, let's say, 'professionally produced', but there's a lot of footage, so it makes up for quality with, um, quantity, I guess. I'm going to start working on another kitten video soon, so look for that.
The video quality is pretty bad, but I have a better version I could send to anyone that can tell me a good way to transmit a 200+ MB File across the internet.
-N
The video quality is pretty bad, but I have a better version I could send to anyone that can tell me a good way to transmit a 200+ MB File across the internet.
-N
Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix
This weekend, we went to the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix, a car show, street race fund raiser extravaganza. This weekend's activities were set in Schenley Park, just blocks from our apartment, and benefit one of Myron Cope's organizations- supporting care and research for Autism. The car show is incredible, there are rows and rows of cars from all makers and all eras. This kind of event had a huge crowd, despite temps well over 90. The crowd is a "only in Pittsburgh" mix of fans, enthusiasts and aficionados (or pop, coors light and champagne). There were old minis and triumphs, a few very old model Ts, and some very new hotrods and sports cars. You can imagine Matt was really in to this.
The car show itself takes place on the Golf Course in the park, so there are plenty of rolling greens to park cars on. Ha. This is of course convenient to the race track, which are the winding roads in the park. Right there! They really drive these real old cars! Fast! To truly experience a vintage grand prix you would have to imagine the noise of a gang of bikers combined with the smell of burned alcohol and rubber. For the benefit of the movie, I've added a blues soundtrack, since I've found this is the best way to cope with the heat. Although the race is almost a mile away, we can hear the cars from home. I cobbled together a couple clips for those who might enjoy seeing this.
The car show itself takes place on the Golf Course in the park, so there are plenty of rolling greens to park cars on. Ha. This is of course convenient to the race track, which are the winding roads in the park. Right there! They really drive these real old cars! Fast! To truly experience a vintage grand prix you would have to imagine the noise of a gang of bikers combined with the smell of burned alcohol and rubber. For the benefit of the movie, I've added a blues soundtrack, since I've found this is the best way to cope with the heat. Although the race is almost a mile away, we can hear the cars from home. I cobbled together a couple clips for those who might enjoy seeing this.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Ceramics- The comedy continues
Another week at ceramics, and Sarah and I decided we would leave work a few minutes early so we would have enough time to enjoy our egg sandwiches at the cafe. In sharp contrast to every other week, we caught a bus in minutes, it wasn't over crowed and we arrived at the Union Project almost and hour before class started. Too bad the cafe was closed. We ended up buying cereal and milk at the drug store across the street and eating it with a fork I carry in my bag on the lawn.
After 4 weeks, we've hypothetically 'mastered' mugs, bowls and now plates, and are carving little feet onto their bases. Plates I think I may get a handle on; big flat piece of clay is how most of my attempts turn out eventually. However, intentionally making plates seems to be more of a gauntlet than our previous work. Fingers being so close to the spinning wheel ground down my finger nails, shaved my knuckles and actually sliced my thumb. But I am confident I can get my money's worth out of plates, platters and trays, especially since I don't think lids are going to work out for me.
After 4 weeks, we've hypothetically 'mastered' mugs, bowls and now plates, and are carving little feet onto their bases. Plates I think I may get a handle on; big flat piece of clay is how most of my attempts turn out eventually. However, intentionally making plates seems to be more of a gauntlet than our previous work. Fingers being so close to the spinning wheel ground down my finger nails, shaved my knuckles and actually sliced my thumb. But I am confident I can get my money's worth out of plates, platters and trays, especially since I don't think lids are going to work out for me.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Unemployed in California
Hey,
I'm writing this post from a hotel in Hesperia, CA. If you want to look that up on a map, it's going to have to be a pretty detailed one, because the cities just keep getting smaller and smaller. First I flew into Ontario, CA, which is east about 1 or 2 hours from LA. Then I drove an hour north out towards the desert to Hesperia, which is even smaller. And then I've been working about an hour away from here, and on friday we're going to do a test which about an hour away from there. I will literally be in the middle of nowhere.
I don't get to say too much about the work, but for the most part it's been pretty mind-numbing. I'm out here to help with some testing that was supposed to take place once on thursday and once on friday. Well, due to some poor planning on the part of the people we're working with, it's only going to happen once, on friday. And if a different test today doesn't go well, even friday won't happen at all.
Which leads to an interesting business ethics dilemma. If my company sends me on travel, and then the travel location doesn't have anything for me to do...but I can't leave yet...do I just not get to work? This seems, somehow, unethical to me. If I've given of my time in order to go off into parts unknown, I should get to charge my time appropriately. If I were home, I'd either go off and do something else at work or just sit around and wait until the work situation changed, charging my time because the waiting is now part of the work.
But when you've only got one thing to do, work/not work line becomes pretty sketchy. We spend a lot of time out here waiting for other people to get stuff done. Sometimes that means we just don't show up until later, but other times it means we just have to wait. Some of the guys I work with have other things they can work on, but often I don't. At what point does 'not doing work on the job' translate to 'not doing work off the job', and should I be allowed to charge my time here where I don't have anything to do? I've been wondering this for a while.
Fortunately, it's not really an important point. I brought along a work laptop with Matlab and some data that I've been looking at. So today I've pretty much just been sitting in my hotel room and looking at data in Matlab all day. I also brought mine, for goofing off, which means I've got two computers to use. Shiny.
I'll be back in Austin on Saturday, and tooling around here until then.
-N
I'm writing this post from a hotel in Hesperia, CA. If you want to look that up on a map, it's going to have to be a pretty detailed one, because the cities just keep getting smaller and smaller. First I flew into Ontario, CA, which is east about 1 or 2 hours from LA. Then I drove an hour north out towards the desert to Hesperia, which is even smaller. And then I've been working about an hour away from here, and on friday we're going to do a test which about an hour away from there. I will literally be in the middle of nowhere.
I don't get to say too much about the work, but for the most part it's been pretty mind-numbing. I'm out here to help with some testing that was supposed to take place once on thursday and once on friday. Well, due to some poor planning on the part of the people we're working with, it's only going to happen once, on friday. And if a different test today doesn't go well, even friday won't happen at all.
Which leads to an interesting business ethics dilemma. If my company sends me on travel, and then the travel location doesn't have anything for me to do...but I can't leave yet...do I just not get to work? This seems, somehow, unethical to me. If I've given of my time in order to go off into parts unknown, I should get to charge my time appropriately. If I were home, I'd either go off and do something else at work or just sit around and wait until the work situation changed, charging my time because the waiting is now part of the work.
But when you've only got one thing to do, work/not work line becomes pretty sketchy. We spend a lot of time out here waiting for other people to get stuff done. Sometimes that means we just don't show up until later, but other times it means we just have to wait. Some of the guys I work with have other things they can work on, but often I don't. At what point does 'not doing work on the job' translate to 'not doing work off the job', and should I be allowed to charge my time here where I don't have anything to do? I've been wondering this for a while.
Fortunately, it's not really an important point. I brought along a work laptop with Matlab and some data that I've been looking at. So today I've pretty much just been sitting in my hotel room and looking at data in Matlab all day. I also brought mine, for goofing off, which means I've got two computers to use. Shiny.
I'll be back in Austin on Saturday, and tooling around here until then.
-N
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
I'm a TA
I FINALLY got my teaching assignment official on Monday. I'll be TAing Molecular Genetics lab- two sections that meet for 5 hours once a week (I meet with them for 10). I'll be prepping and assisting mostly, this sounds light on the lectures, and about my speed of science actually. The instructor, we'll call him Twombles, seems like a reasonable guy if chatty. A lot of the undergrads in our lab are in it, and there are only 12 students per section, which is a pretty good deal.
I have a couple qualms about the class- it is to be moved back into a newly renovated space that is only going to be available to us at most a week before class starts. One week to move in all the glassware and chemicals, fill the drawers, and get the room organized. And let the dust settle so it can be "sterile." Since other classes are taught in the space I expect that this week will be crazy, but then it will pretty much have to be fixed (and not by me) very quickly. The other is that the course was designed by my least favorite faculty of all. In typical old faculty style, the entire course is outlined in great detail, in his head. He has been moved to a more administrative position, so he is no longer teaching the course, but - the instructor assures me- no other changes are being made to the course design. So I am a little fuzzy on whether there are assignments, and how the experiments are meant to be done, but Twombles is confident we can work through these things. I am confident it is not my responsibility to design course work, so this should work.
I mentioned Twombles is a reasonable guy- he practically insisted I take the time to go to Noel and Jessie's wedding (I was worried when I heard it was a Friday lab), and the Thanksgiving trip won't overlap at all. Teaching starts at the end of August, so you can expect to hear much more about this in the coming months.
I have a couple qualms about the class- it is to be moved back into a newly renovated space that is only going to be available to us at most a week before class starts. One week to move in all the glassware and chemicals, fill the drawers, and get the room organized. And let the dust settle so it can be "sterile." Since other classes are taught in the space I expect that this week will be crazy, but then it will pretty much have to be fixed (and not by me) very quickly. The other is that the course was designed by my least favorite faculty of all. In typical old faculty style, the entire course is outlined in great detail, in his head. He has been moved to a more administrative position, so he is no longer teaching the course, but - the instructor assures me- no other changes are being made to the course design. So I am a little fuzzy on whether there are assignments, and how the experiments are meant to be done, but Twombles is confident we can work through these things. I am confident it is not my responsibility to design course work, so this should work.
I mentioned Twombles is a reasonable guy- he practically insisted I take the time to go to Noel and Jessie's wedding (I was worried when I heard it was a Friday lab), and the Thanksgiving trip won't overlap at all. Teaching starts at the end of August, so you can expect to hear much more about this in the coming months.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
No news - more rumors
The update on Matt's new "career opportunities" is still up in the air. It is starting to sound like they want to upgrade his responsibilities by two full positions, but keep him on the same pay scale. If they were going to just make him do the job that needs to be filled (that he doesn't want), there should be a significant monetary increase. The real story may be some broader redistribution of a lot of people's responsibilities for a short period of time. Either way, his immediate supervisor asked him to work through a few things before the end of next week since he "probably won't be available to after that." At least this sounds like it should all sort out soon- I'll keep you up to date.
Otherwise, we didn't join a roller derby league, but we did visit the zoo again (no glimpse of the baby elephant!) and eat sushi this weekend. Also, my former mentor (and previous tenant in our current house) came over to visit Friday night and visit the neighbors, which was a lot of food and fun.
This week: Gear up for the DNA Tumor Virus Meeting in Madison. I'm leaving the day after my birthday- I think my siblings will have to cover the blogage while I am gone!
Otherwise, we didn't join a roller derby league, but we did visit the zoo again (no glimpse of the baby elephant!) and eat sushi this weekend. Also, my former mentor (and previous tenant in our current house) came over to visit Friday night and visit the neighbors, which was a lot of food and fun.
This week: Gear up for the DNA Tumor Virus Meeting in Madison. I'm leaving the day after my birthday- I think my siblings will have to cover the blogage while I am gone!
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Heck on Wheels
Yesterday Jess got an e-mail from a girl she had sent a message to a while ago telling her that open tryouts for the Texas Roller Derby league were that evening.
Yikes!
So I may have mentioned it before, or not, but Jess has been looking to join roller derby, as a substitue for the Ice hockey that she had been doing before. They have a hockey league here, but she doesn't like playing in mens leagues. 'Too much drama', if you can believe that.
So anyway, Jess had about 3 hours to prepare, so she quickly went off to the local open rollerskate park to brush up on her wheeled transport. There were some differences, including the fact that she couldn't do hockey stops anymore and that when you step off the rink, you keep moving.
Dutifully refreshed, we went down to the specified location. It was...pretty ghetto. It was litterally just a warehouse with a banked track and a bunch of stuff piled all over. There were old 'side-of-the-road' couches that people could sit on and a whole bunch of stuff all over the walls. I'll get some pictures eventually.
Jess was really nervous, and wasn't sure she'd be able to pass the test, but she was *easily* the #1 or 2 girl there out of about 15. The other one, I think, had done roller derby before. But she tore up the tests they gave for her, only having trouble where there's a difference between ice skates and roller skates. (read: stopping).
So yeah, we're supposed to hear back in a few days, but unless they don't have a lot of spots open (and we believe that they do) it looks like Jess might be joining a Roller Derby league. Prepare for brawls and cursing
-N
Yikes!
So I may have mentioned it before, or not, but Jess has been looking to join roller derby, as a substitue for the Ice hockey that she had been doing before. They have a hockey league here, but she doesn't like playing in mens leagues. 'Too much drama', if you can believe that.
So anyway, Jess had about 3 hours to prepare, so she quickly went off to the local open rollerskate park to brush up on her wheeled transport. There were some differences, including the fact that she couldn't do hockey stops anymore and that when you step off the rink, you keep moving.
Dutifully refreshed, we went down to the specified location. It was...pretty ghetto. It was litterally just a warehouse with a banked track and a bunch of stuff piled all over. There were old 'side-of-the-road' couches that people could sit on and a whole bunch of stuff all over the walls. I'll get some pictures eventually.
Jess was really nervous, and wasn't sure she'd be able to pass the test, but she was *easily* the #1 or 2 girl there out of about 15. The other one, I think, had done roller derby before. But she tore up the tests they gave for her, only having trouble where there's a difference between ice skates and roller skates. (read: stopping).
So yeah, we're supposed to hear back in a few days, but unless they don't have a lot of spots open (and we believe that they do) it looks like Jess might be joining a Roller Derby league. Prepare for brawls and cursing
-N
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Ceramics Class
Wednesday nights are my ceramics class at the Union Project. I signed up for this 10 week class on a whim with Sarah (from the zoo adventure), and it turned out to be a great idea. We both decided it would be cheaper to make pottery than buy it, but I think I may have been wrong. I will need several more semesters before I make anything actually attractive (spoiler: you are all getting lumpy pencil holders and cocktail peanuts bowls for Xmas), but it is really fun.
Fortunately, Sarah and I both suck at this. Our teacher has a very forgiving eye: he thinks since we want it to look handmade, so the imperfections give it character. My pieces tend to have more character than they can hold. Each night I come home with clay that has dripped down my elbows stuck to my pants, smeared on my shirt and splashed in my hair. My attitude about this is similar to learning new assays at work: I have to try to make every mistake once before I can get it right. I haven't yet thrown a perfect anything. Tonight we learned how to make handles- which just adds another dimension to go wrong. I could probably spend 10 weeks practicing the cylinder we did the first night and still be laughing at the explosion of clay during our last week.
If anything makes it out of the oven without exploding, I might post pictures. But if I don't, don't ask.
Fortunately, Sarah and I both suck at this. Our teacher has a very forgiving eye: he thinks since we want it to look handmade, so the imperfections give it character. My pieces tend to have more character than they can hold. Each night I come home with clay that has dripped down my elbows stuck to my pants, smeared on my shirt and splashed in my hair. My attitude about this is similar to learning new assays at work: I have to try to make every mistake once before I can get it right. I haven't yet thrown a perfect anything. Tonight we learned how to make handles- which just adds another dimension to go wrong. I could probably spend 10 weeks practicing the cylinder we did the first night and still be laughing at the explosion of clay during our last week.
If anything makes it out of the oven without exploding, I might post pictures. But if I don't, don't ask.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
12 Hours
Good grief. Jess and I had a 12 hour workday today. We spent the entire afternoon and on into evening trying to get some tests run out in the 'field' (read: a high school parking lot). We got three data collections working correctly. No, that's not a lot.
Also, it sounds like I might *finally* be traveling for work next week. This is...news? It's not really good or bad. I'm told it's a relatively unpleasant jaunt, though. Grand.
-N
Also, it sounds like I might *finally* be traveling for work next week. This is...news? It's not really good or bad. I'm told it's a relatively unpleasant jaunt, though. Grand.
-N
Haircut!
I did it! I gave up years and months of ignoring my hair and got a real haircut. This is actually the shorter 'do I'd talked myself into and even budgeted for last summer, but never got around to doing. It is a sort of inverse bob- off my neck but tucks behind the ears.
Turns out my hair curls.
What do you think?
Feeding the Rumor Mill
Those of you who know Matt probably don't know anything about his job. He works so that they pay him, and he doesn't mind it but (true of many subjects with Matt) he doesn't talk about it. So you can imagine my surprise when he told me his day at work was 'eventful.'
Matt works as a drafter of compressors with a specialty in bearings and housing, and he is training to take over his boss' job. The whole department is run as a pyramid; there are lots of new guy drafters, some people like Matt's boss and a couple of guys who look over every drawing and assemble it before it goes to the shop to be built. Some of you may have heard that they hope these new guys will stay on for 40 years like the guys at the top so they can work their way up, but our generation doesn't take jobs to keep them. Well, the guys at the top are leaving, and the management seems to recognize the old promotion scheme won't keep the pyramid full. Matt's work is very busy (working for petroleum is good place to be these days), but they are suddenly throwing around words like "re-organization" and "opportunities." Matt isn't thrilled about this, to him it sounds like more paper work and hours, but not a lot more dollars. Those who know Matt will know he isn't keen to cut into his weekends for such un-fun things like work though. It sounds like this will start to shake out in the next month, so I'll keep you all up to date.
Don't bother asking Matt about it though, as you all know he won't have anything to say about it.
Matt works as a drafter of compressors with a specialty in bearings and housing, and he is training to take over his boss' job. The whole department is run as a pyramid; there are lots of new guy drafters, some people like Matt's boss and a couple of guys who look over every drawing and assemble it before it goes to the shop to be built. Some of you may have heard that they hope these new guys will stay on for 40 years like the guys at the top so they can work their way up, but our generation doesn't take jobs to keep them. Well, the guys at the top are leaving, and the management seems to recognize the old promotion scheme won't keep the pyramid full. Matt's work is very busy (working for petroleum is good place to be these days), but they are suddenly throwing around words like "re-organization" and "opportunities." Matt isn't thrilled about this, to him it sounds like more paper work and hours, but not a lot more dollars. Those who know Matt will know he isn't keen to cut into his weekends for such un-fun things like work though. It sounds like this will start to shake out in the next month, so I'll keep you all up to date.
Don't bother asking Matt about it though, as you all know he won't have anything to say about it.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Weekend in florida
Jess and I spent the weekend away from Austin in Florida, seeing family and doing little odds and ends to plan for the wedding. We arrived in Florida Thursday evening and pretty much just had some dinner and then fell asleep. But the nephews were, as always, totally adorable and obsessed with the DS. They're cute when they play, Jess says they remind her of me. :)
Friday we did a bunch of stuff, went by the location again to change some little details and meet the new person in charge (Her name is Sherry, and she's pretty nice) as well as getting our florists (the Mom and Sister) a chance to check the place out and plan their floral extravaganza. We also went by the local supermarket, Publix, to order our wedding cake. There was a very nice lady there who, evidently, is in charge of cakes, and she explained the whole process and took our order and was, all in all, quite nice. So that's one more thing down. Anything else I'm missing?
Friday was also BBQ and fireworks day. In the great traditions of families everywhere, we all got together and ate way too much food and set off fireworks. Good times were had by all. Also, it was nice to be able to sleep in the same bed as Jess for an entire night, the organizational requirements of our new Kitties mean that I don't get to cuddle her as much as I'd like.
Oh, and I got to meet Jessie's mom's new dog, Tea. He's a sweetie, and a definite lap dog. He fell asleep on my lap a couple of times while I petted him.
Saturday I mostly just hung out with the boys and played video games. Jess had a much, much, MUCH busier day. First she went out and got her hair done in preparation for the wedding. They did it up all pretty, and it looked real nice, even if there were about 50 bobby pins involved. After that, she went off for 'girl-time' lunch and then met up with some friends for a BACHELORETTE PARTY! They went off and had alcohol and rode a mechanical bull. I, for my bachelor party, merely played in the pool, did a few levels of Lego Indiana Jones (when the boys weren't trying to 'show me something' they could do) and then watched TV until the girls got home. Jess's sister got her belly button pierced and Jess that that was *so crazy*. Then sleep.
I woke up and hung out with the family some more, Jess, on the other hand, spent most of the morning curled up in bed with post-alcohol-consumption disorder. Quoth Jessie: "well, I'm getting married, so thank goodness I won't have to do this ever again.' I also got to be, and I'm quoting here, 'the Best Fiance Ever' by taking care of my girl while she convalesced and got up enough energy to get to the airport and fly home.
How was your weekend?
-N
Friday we did a bunch of stuff, went by the location again to change some little details and meet the new person in charge (Her name is Sherry, and she's pretty nice) as well as getting our florists (the Mom and Sister) a chance to check the place out and plan their floral extravaganza. We also went by the local supermarket, Publix, to order our wedding cake. There was a very nice lady there who, evidently, is in charge of cakes, and she explained the whole process and took our order and was, all in all, quite nice. So that's one more thing down. Anything else I'm missing?
Friday was also BBQ and fireworks day. In the great traditions of families everywhere, we all got together and ate way too much food and set off fireworks. Good times were had by all. Also, it was nice to be able to sleep in the same bed as Jess for an entire night, the organizational requirements of our new Kitties mean that I don't get to cuddle her as much as I'd like.
Oh, and I got to meet Jessie's mom's new dog, Tea. He's a sweetie, and a definite lap dog. He fell asleep on my lap a couple of times while I petted him.
Saturday I mostly just hung out with the boys and played video games. Jess had a much, much, MUCH busier day. First she went out and got her hair done in preparation for the wedding. They did it up all pretty, and it looked real nice, even if there were about 50 bobby pins involved. After that, she went off for 'girl-time' lunch and then met up with some friends for a BACHELORETTE PARTY! They went off and had alcohol and rode a mechanical bull. I, for my bachelor party, merely played in the pool, did a few levels of Lego Indiana Jones (when the boys weren't trying to 'show me something' they could do) and then watched TV until the girls got home. Jess's sister got her belly button pierced and Jess that that was *so crazy*. Then sleep.
I woke up and hung out with the family some more, Jess, on the other hand, spent most of the morning curled up in bed with post-alcohol-consumption disorder. Quoth Jessie: "well, I'm getting married, so thank goodness I won't have to do this ever again.' I also got to be, and I'm quoting here, 'the Best Fiance Ever' by taking care of my girl while she convalesced and got up enough energy to get to the airport and fly home.
How was your weekend?
-N
Happy Fourth!
Matt and I took the long weekend to go to Milford PA with J and W (our travel companions to Alaska) for J's birthday/ major BBQ festivities. We went last year for a 2 day weekend that was such a whirlwind of making-food-meeting-people-eating-food-drinking-laughing-fireworks and fun that we HAD to go back this year. I can't think of a more Americana way to spend the nations birthday- and dang it was a lot of fun! The extra day afforded us our first trip to both New York State AND New Jersey (I liked New York better- they have amazing ice cream there), and more relaxed pace of making food. And extra time for J's Dad to rope the boys into his pyrotechnics plan.
The tradition at J's house to BBQ up 100lbs of chicken, shrimp and clams, and all kinds of people hang out eating and chatting by the lake until dark, when her Dad lights a few fireworks. This year, thanks to the BOGO special, he had what he admitted was the equivalent of $600 of combustibles. And a plan. He asked Matt to help him manage a pair of boats- one for crew and one for explosives- so the aerials would go off over the water. In the meantime, W was one shore (suffering the catcalls of the audience), lighting off ground displays that were more dramatic close up. This was just silly enough to be exciting but not dangerous- and I am hoping to get some well captured footage of Matt in the boat so stay tuned.
The whole party was a lot of fun, with an improved plan for next year's display already in the works. Great Holiday!
The tradition at J's house to BBQ up 100lbs of chicken, shrimp and clams, and all kinds of people hang out eating and chatting by the lake until dark, when her Dad lights a few fireworks. This year, thanks to the BOGO special, he had what he admitted was the equivalent of $600 of combustibles. And a plan. He asked Matt to help him manage a pair of boats- one for crew and one for explosives- so the aerials would go off over the water. In the meantime, W was one shore (suffering the catcalls of the audience), lighting off ground displays that were more dramatic close up. This was just silly enough to be exciting but not dangerous- and I am hoping to get some well captured footage of Matt in the boat so stay tuned.
The whole party was a lot of fun, with an improved plan for next year's display already in the works. Great Holiday!
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Wedding Video
I made another movie!
This one is cut together from all the stuff I shot over the weekend at the LA Wedding. There's a BBQ, a wedding, and a heck of a lot of chinese food. And now you guys can see what my friends look like (Human).
Enjoy and let me know what you think.
-N
This one is cut together from all the stuff I shot over the weekend at the LA Wedding. There's a BBQ, a wedding, and a heck of a lot of chinese food. And now you guys can see what my friends look like (Human).
Enjoy and let me know what you think.
-N
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