A backlog of photos

I have promised on many occasions to post some photos- overwhelming though it may be, I am going to post them ALL. Starting with our trip to Cleveland over Easter weekend. It was nice to get out of town for a couple days, and see some new sights. I've posted the album here.

Moving right along, we also had a visit from Shaoshu, which coincided with a Rockband party. Righteous beats were dropped, and a good time was had by all. A couple pictures are collected and posted here.

Another major event is the wedding of my ceramics partner. This was a long anticipated event- Sarah and Alex have been together since the were in high school here in Pittsburgh, so you can imagine their big supportive families were restless with happiness. The wedding included some Pittsburgh traditions (like watching hockey during the reception), some Jewish traditions (like breaking the glass and being carried on chairs- as seen in photos), but was mostly a simple Catholic ceremony. It was a lot of fun to go and celebrate with my co-workers and friends, and to dance with Matt a little. This album includes our Award Winning Toilet Paper Wedding party from the bridal shower.

In other news- The Penguins are in the Stanley Cup Finals! Can you believe people are still playing Hockey? It is hot out! We are facing Detroit, like last year and they are still a better team. Hoping to see some amazing turn around after a 2 game loss in this series, but not holding out for it. Matt is making steady progress at being a rockband drummer, so I have to do my best to keep up with him on the guitar stuff.

Blogging from my Lawn

Ain't technology great?

Jess is out of town this weekend (briefly) for a bachelorette party in Florida, which also doubles as a nice excuse for her to see family again.  I'll join her for the wedding in a few more weeks.  It's a short trip, only a couple of nights away.  As I told her before she left, she's already almost back home.  

I've spent my weekend playing video games, drumming, and writing.  There's an upcoming section that's going to get a complete rewrite, but I just keep thinking about my studio, and getting into music.  I can see the end of the book, at least the second write-through, on the horizon, and while I might want to do another pass through for grammar before I send it off, there's definitely a lot of improvement between the drafts.  Once I finish it up, I'll send it out to people for some test-readings.  I've changed a lot, and I can't always differentiate between what I wrote in the first draft, what I wrote in the second, and what I just thought about a lot.  

Birthday lists, people!  Festive days are coming!

Also, just to change up the scenery, I took my laptop outside to my front lawn (with chair) to write this and a bunch of my story.  It's a nice way to change up the scenery, and I might get to meet some more neighbors.  

I don't think I've written about my neighbors here yet.  We've met a few.  On our left side is a nice family with several kids, high-school to grade school, and I think one might be in college, too.  They're immigrants, but I couldn't tell you where from by their accent.  Somewhere in Africa maybe?  Or in the Caribbean?  Our other-side neighbor is actually selling her house.  We met her a few times but she's selling and moving to a smaller house now that she's empty-nesting and getting closer to retirement.  The new neighbor is, by reports, a guy.  That's about all I know.  We have several other neighbors too, but we haven't met too many others.  I'm thinking about having a meet-your neighbors open house to see if anyone shows up.  What you think?

-N

Women in Science- a Discussion Group

As I hinted earlier, I have started a Women in Science Career Skills and Discussion Group. Tonight was our first meeting- and I am going to say, success. I am really pleased, actually, because after I called Mom for a pep talk earlier, the discussion went really well- we got through the main points I wanted to cover, got to hear some interesting things from some neat diverse ladies and seem to have some ambition for regular meetings. In fact the Last Thursday of the Month is the new semi-official meet-up date.

I was intimidated because I had invited some people I don't know, thinking this might lend some formality that would keep us on topic (and it did). But, after seeing so much enthusiasm for this idea (Get together as female scientists and talk about issues that impact our careers-uniquely or not), I knew that there was a need that needed to be filled- so I decided just to be the catalyst. Of course there are lots of topics that can and should be covered in this type of forum, so I don't doubt we'll have lots to talk about for months to come. This week we talked about developing and having a career plan, concluding that you need to prepare for opportunities before you want to take your next steps- and that your network should be there to help. Next month's topic is Networking- moderated by a more senior scientist with an enviable network. (Although, as the youngest, most junior one around the table tonight, that doesn't say too much)

My measure of success was, once we made it through my list of discussion topic, everyone hung around to keep chatting. One person brought an extra friend, and there were lots of "I'll be bringing someone new next time"s, so this must be valuable. Also, very easy to organize- as I am realizing many of these things are. A couple emails, a bowl of fruit and some wine- and I've already got great advice coming in!

There will be photos later

I have SO much to post, I'll just jump to it, and fill in the details later. First excited news- Matt bought ROCKBAND. He wanted to have something he could work on getting better at, and I think after spring break in TX, he was tired of being the unmusical one. We both fundamentally suck at this game, but that makes it fun, and we are actually getting better. Matt favors the drums, but maybe someday he'll learn to sing.

Next, our old roommate Shaoshu is visiting this weekend (ergo, short post). Obviously, we are very busy with the having fun, goofing off and killing time. And this means we had to host our first Rock Band party. This was also great- and got to incldue W and J and J's Dad who is in town for J's graduation- can you beleive this stuff? Why wait to blog?

We need to go now, and have just a little more fun before Shaoshu leaves tomorrow, so I'll have a better update then. Hope you are all having a happy Memorial Day!

We Also Have Weird Cats

Usually when we go to bed, the cats will come up with us while we get ready and tool around the bathroom while we clean up and get ready to sleep.  Then they'll usually lay on the bed with us, but only for a little bit.  Often they'll head downstairs, usually with Nagano chasing Tigger, and after a while we'll hear these forlorn sort of meows coming from downstairs.  I'm not entirely sure which cat does it, but I think it's Tigger.  

I've gone downstairs to check on him a couple of times, but whenever I find him he's just sitting there with a cat-like look on his face, like he's surprised that I bothered to get out of bed.  Weird.

Then, last night, we heard the forlorn meows again, but from much closer this time.  And slightly muffled.  When we looked over at the bedroom door, Tigger walked in with a pair of my folded socks in his mouth, socks that he had brought from all the way downstairs.  He dropped them on the ground, meowed, and then laid down on the floor.  

We have absolutely no idea why.

-N

Juneau is now famous?

Did anyone else see the front page story in the New York Times yesterday about everybody's favorite state capital?

It seems that Sandlin's wedding in front of the receding Mendenhall Glacier could be a historical marker . . not only will the glacier be gone someday, but Douglas Island will not be an island anymore.

What does this mean for your beachfront, Gordie?

Actually, every morning starts like this

Cats are creatures of habit. My cat in particular, is not a creature of much grace- despite everything else you have heard about cats. I say this to set the scene for the recent string of morning sillies, starring our cat Raoul.

You may remember, that Raoul likes the shower. Often he ducks into the just emptied tub, and then onto the sink or back of the toilet to be near the action. Recently, he has had some serious traction issues due to soggy paws. The other day, he jumped up to the sink, only to peel out sideways and slide under the faucet. This morning he jumped onto a magazine on the back of the toilet which avalanched under his weight, catapulting him at odd angles back onto the tub, but not, notably, his feet.

To help him recover from this, I decided to toss him a Q-tip. He loves catching and absconding with Q-tips. If you chuck it into the bin, he'll lean right in to grab it out again. Of course, we recently emptied this receptical, so for the last couple days his lean has turned into a nose plant- his back feet jutting straight into the air behind him until he kicks around enough to fall all the way in or get traction to leverage himself out. Every morning he does this garbage can swan dive, leaving himself as helpless as a flipped beettle- all for a Q-tip to stash under the bathroom rug.

---
News in brief: Matt's old roommate Shaoshu is coming out to visit us next weekend- plans include Eating, Drinking and Merriment. I am trying to start a Women's Career Skills discussion group- I actually have a dozen people so far who've shown some interest, so it is just a matter of nailing down a time and I think we may be in business. Matt was very happy to go to Pittsburgh's new Haufbrauhaus- a big German stlye beer hall that serves brewskys by the Liter- we hardly drank that much between the two of us, but the pretzels were quite delicious.

Anyone out there a gardener?

Hey,

I posted a new album with a bunch of pictures from recent events. I thought I'd throw up a few here.

From Roof, Party, Garden

Check out our new roof! It's been done for a while, and we upgraded to the neater-looking 30-year shingles. Very chic. We've already gone through our first rainstorm. It feels nice to know we have a good, protective barrier up while it's raining.

Here's some pictures from the housewarming/rock band party we threw.

From Roof, Party, Garden

Here's me rocking out with some coworkers.

From Roof, Party, Garden

Jessie mostly played guitar, though she may have added some impromptu vocals every once in a while. We played till about 2 in the morning, and everyone seemed to have a great time. Yay for that!

But the real reason made this was to show off my awesome garden and maybe ask some questions.

From Roof, Party, Garden

The great part about inheriting a garden is that pretty much everything about it is a surprise. We didn't know this tree bloomed with flowers until...it bloomed! Pretty cool. It's actually getting to big, though, I'm going to have to trim it back. So, to anyone out there that knows anything about gardening (NANA!) how to you trim a plant? When should you do it? Does anyone even know what kind of tree this is?

From Roof, Party, Garden

Here's another close-up picture in case it helps with identification.

From Roof, Party, Garden

This one was a surprise too. It was just a bunch of dead sticks over the winter, and I trimmed it back a bunch where it looked like the branches were dead. Then a few weeks ago, this happened. I don't what kind of plant it is either, but it sure is pretty!

From Roof, Party, Garden

We think this is some sort of rose bush. I know you're supposed to trim rose bushes, I'm just not sure when you do it. I trimmed it back a little earlier in the year before it started blooming. Glad I did, because it's gotten a lot bigger.

From Roof, Party, Garden

And, of course, our favorite. The tree we planted behind the house is growing up just fine, so far, and is covered with leaves. We still water it pretty regularly, we want it to grow some roots and fast. And it even looks like we might be seeing the first signs of some acorns forming. That's a good sign.

So anyone with gardening advice should definitely put up a post or add some comments. Love to hear from you!

-N

A Review of Start Trek, and Other things

My review of Start Trek:

It's very good, you should go see it.

We went to a beer tasting party on friday which was a lot of fun. People were trying to guess different beers that were given anonymously to us to sample. I, of course, don't have the beer palette to distinguish between different types, but I wrote down my impressions on each of them. Things I've discovered: 1) Most beers taste pretty similar. 2) I don't like hoppy beers. 3) I should try more Hefeweizen beers.

Ever heard of Free Realms? It's a "freemium" online game. The idea is that you can play the basic game for free, and if you want, you can upgrade your experience for cost. I've been playing it for the past few days or so, and there's a lot to recommend about it. For starters, there's a few different directions you can go, either beating up monsters and collecting money and leveling up, or trying out different jobs like racing, mining, farming or cooking. I think I'm pretty much done with it for now, but it's very pretty, totally free, and not bad times, in case you're looking for something to do with your browser.

Bedtime!

-N

blllleeeeck FINALS

There is an eerie calm on campus the weekend before finals. Everyone has work to do, but with the weather being as sunny and amazing as it is, there's a good chance they're not doing. I, for instance, am avoiding/taking a break from writing my final paper for my media criticism class. Considering I've had to do similar essays on tests where I was only allowed 2 hours to complete the whole thing, this seems to be taking me a lot longer. Go figure. This is obviously the calm before the storm.
My finals week shouldn't be too bad. I only have one test and two papers due, but it's really the principle of the thing. Very rarely do I actually feel motivated enough to get things done early without any other reason than to get it out of the way. So my goal is to try and get a solid draft of this one paper done today, so I can look at it again before I turn it in on Tuesday. Obviously my blogging is a sign that it's not getting done as quickly as I had planned.
But I'm very excited to be home, considering I haven't been there since before Christmas. It feels like a very long time to not see your parents as it turns out. And I'm also very excited about the fact that I don't have to pack up all my stuff and move it to storage. I get to leave it here and move back in without any boxes or anything. Just the things I need for the summer. Needless to say it will really be a much easier packing situation than it has been in the past. This whole idea makes me look forward to a time when I don't have to move around every 5-6 months and have a legitimate place to call my own.
Other than that, not too much going on here, just preparing for my finals, a.k.a. avoiding them as much as possible while still staying on it enough to make sure i don't fail, and hanging out with my friends as much as possible before I have to say goodbye for the summer.

PS

Parents, I thought you'd like this picture Giselle took of me while I was in Spokane. She's taking digital photography and I thought this one turned out pretty nice.

Birthday Lists!

So mothers day has come and gone, and that means one thing: "It's birthday season!" So I'm calling it out right now, unless your name is 'Noel' or perhaps even 'Kelsey', a little bit, your birthday is rapidly approaching and no one has any idea what to get you. So let's see some lists people! What gardening equipment do you need? What tools do you not have? What organic spice mixes whet your palette?

Tis' friday! (I misspelled "it's", there, and decided to go with it.) Jess and I are going to a Beer Tasting party at the house of one of the people that came to our housewarming party last week. I'll let you know if I discover anything delicious.

My plan is mostly to relax this weekend. I got pretty tired out (and maybe a little sick?) on Thursday, so I've mostly been taking it easy and trying to catch up on sleep, which has worked pretty well so far. I've been playing Dwarf Fortress, still, and another new game I've discovered called Free Realms. It's online, requires a small download, and it's completely free. You play in a world with a bunch of other players, but as far as I can tell, there's really no reason to interact with other players. There's a lot of different games to play in there too, so you may find something you enjoy, either beating up bad guys (totally optional) or cart racing or puzzle games or cooking minigames. Odd stuff, but well worth the price of admission (Once again: free.)

Sorry I haven't posted up any movies or pictures, I'm sorting through old stuff to try and clean up some hard drive space. It will appear eventually, I'm sure.

-N

Further Musings on my Great Parents

Last week I went to a career symposium on women developing careers in science, where I heard about books by local author Linda Babcock- who writes about how women can recognize and learn to take advantage of opportunities around them, and why they may not see such things as quickly as men. I picked up her book "Women Don't Ask," which I am alternately castigating myself with and enjoying. There are many counter examples- women who let the world pass them by because they failed to speak up and ask for a slice, but also some very concrete ways to address this- as a woman, and as an employer and as a society.

This morning (on the bus), I was reading the section about how parents inadvertently shape their children's gender perceptions, and gave some gut wrenching examples- 4 year olds asking their moms if girls could use money too, this sort of thing. Kids don't see their Moms and Dads doing the same things, and assume that this has something to do with gender, and incorporate this into their own identity.

Weirdly, this section didn't really resonate with me- although maybe it would with Noel. Since Dad made regular trips out of town, but the rest of us kept right on with our normal pace of life, I got to see Mom do all the things Dad would do. If I think back, I don't really recall Dad cooking, but I saw Mom fix things, drive cars, make choices for the family (being the leader), spend money- all things that the authors suggest other kids don't, and that may erode a girl's identity.

Many things I can blame on my parents - my hatred of all canned vegetables, the missed opportunity to ever cast a deciding vote in an election, but fortunately, missed career opportunities based on my 'gender identity' is not one of them.

WOW

Extending this blog is the perfect Mother's Day gift. I check it at least once a day and it is almost as good as a real a hug, a good way to connect. And I am not the only one to benefit from this connection. Your Dad often lets me know there is a new blog because he checks it at least as much as I do. I know that your grandparents have appreciated this gift too. Nana told me just today that it is the best Mother's Day present I ever got from her point of view.

I absolutely agree with her except for the three special people that have given me the honor to celebrate this special day as their mother. Those are the real gifts that have given back to me more than I could ever give to them. Keep being the great people that you are and I will always have reason to celebrate this day.

And a special Happy Mother's day to Betty Sequin who produced such a wonderful man and to Fran Swanson who gave us such a special woman. Cheers to us mothers.

Nana (and Papa) and Grama, you have been such wonderful support for us in our early years and hard times. We are so lucky to have you around to continue to celebrate your incrediable grandchildren.

You know what is lame?

Spending Mother's Day without your Mom. What day makes you want to cozy up in homey comforts and give your Mom a hug more than this? And since I can't hug her myself, I spend a lot of energy trying to envisions the perfect (well, practically that good) gift to make up for it. But if you can't spend time with her, what do you give the woman who gave you everything in life from a college education to your smile and a love of fantasy novels and... oh yeah- life itself ? Is there an e-card for that?

To really put the pin in the feeling of "I wish I could hug my own Mom right now," I ran in the Race for the Cure this morning. I mentioned that in Pittsburgh, this is qualified as a MAJOR event, with an estimated 40,000 people turning out to cheer on the Mother's, sisters daughters and survivors that battle breast cancer. Many people wore signs on their back saying "I race for ____." Which kinda makes you a little teary. The family I raced with (my ceramics partner's large, Pittsburgh, BRAC1 positive family) wore signed Celebrating Mom, Two Aunts and One Uncle, In Memory of Grandma and One Cousin. How powerful that they could all race together, really supporting each other, and just be present? It makes me feel a little like I've abandoned my own mother- even if she insists that she doesn't need a trio of children tending to her every need at Virginia Mason for a fairly routine procedure.

The longer I live away from my mother, the more I miss her- but the more I value the connection that we can have as adults, despite the distance. It also makes me treasure the impact that she has had on my life in helping to sculpt me as the goofy-logical-caring-chef-scientist I like to think that I am. So here is to you Mom (someone get her a mimosa!), I hope that you find this mother's day that you already have everything a Mother could ask for, minus a hug.

*****

In parallel news: Happy One Year Anniversary to the Preecs Place. As Dad put it, no Mother's Day gift can top the blog- so this year, to celebrate we are going to KEEP BLOGGING! Please enjoy the Mom-centric new slideshow in the sidebar. And extra Happy Mother's Day to Grandma and Nana- thanks for giving us great parents!

Party Time!

We're about to throw a houswarming party, except that it's not a housewarming party because if we call it that, people will bring us fondue sets and salad tongs and we don't need any of those, thanks you.  

We're telling people it's a Rock Band party, because rock band is awesome and everyone likes music.  We've got chips and munchies everywhere, and the cats are in a spare bedroom because they will eat anything we leave out.  And they don't really like strangers overmuch.  

Will post later with stories and pictures.  Ciao!

-N

A big trip?

We have all been throwing around trip ideas lately, would you be interested in going to the 2010 Olympics in BC? I thought I might pair this with a trip to my mother-in-law, but this is a fairly public event. Cogitate on that...

Yet More Adventures in Home Ownership

I received a call on Sunday from the company doing our roof. They said that they'd be out on Monday and wanted to verify that the materials were already there. I looked out on the driveway to double check but...nope, no shingles. The guy said he'd take care of it, though he may have to reschedule.

Lucky us, though, it all got worked out. When we came back home after work on Monday, our house was swarming with workers, busily banging away and tearing off old shingles. Very exciting, though a little loud. They finished off the work today, and we have ourselves a brand new roof! I've taken some pictures, but I'll have to put up those later.

They did leave one bag in our tree branches, though, and I wanted to get it down. Well I tried throwing a broom up at it to knock it down and I know you've heard this joke before, but it got stuck up there too. Well we had just purchased a ladder, but it wasn't tall enough. Ever the engineers, we taped two hockey sticks together to get the reach necessary to get down both the bag and the broom. Take that, altitude!

On Saturday, we were sitting around and planning a shopping trip (full of new, experimental crockpot recepies) when we heard something banging around downstairs. Well it wasn't either of the cats, and a thorough search of the house revealed it also wasn't in any of the rooms. It was in the wall. In our laundry room. So I saddled up my man-clothes, put on some gloves, and pulled the appliances away from the wall. I took the output hose off the the drier and sure enough was greeted with a burst of lint as whatever had gotten itself stuck in there thrashed around and tried to scrabble back up. On the plus side, it did manage to clean a lot of lint out of the output tube.

Uncertain of what we were dealing with, (Squirrel? Bird? Mouse? Rat?) we first tried to look up with a mirror, and then poked with a coat hanger. Eventually, I just put some peanut butter in a couple of plastic grocery bags and started duct taping it to the vent. Well no sooner had I started, but something fell in. I grabbed the bag off the wall, and we went outside to let it go. We have some video, but both Jess and I got an unexpected surprise when we opened up the bag and a bird flew out. Starling, I think.

Never let it be said that home ownership is boring.

Regardless, I felt very manly and productive, and as a bonus, I don't have anything rotting in the walls, which is usually a downer.

We've also gotten a couple of neat packages in the mail. One, Jess got her plaque for her patent, which is awesome, and we also got a gps unit. We've been playing around with it for a while and I think we've settled on a female, English voice. Very soothing.

Jess's team had a game on Sunday that Jess sat out due to her shoulder being sore. She still attended, though, still walked out during the intro, arm in sling, and I even saw her offering up a couple more signatures to some fans after the game. Not even injury can stop fame.

-N

My Amazing Burger Recipe

The weather here has been downright pleasant lately, so we've had the grill out and been eating outside when ever possible.

I've tried this recipe twice now, and since Matt thinks it completely changes the nature of a turkey burger, I thought I owe it to you to share.

1 lb ground turkey
1 egg
1/4- 1/3 c rolled oats
one clove crushed garlic
chopped cilantro (many table spoons)
- mint and basil if you have it
~1/4 c teriyaki sauce
black pepper or hot pepper to taste

Mix all ingredient together by hand. Form into 5 or 6 little patties and grill. Serve in a lettuce leave or bun.

Mom on the Rebound

So we talked to the GI specialist this morning and he agreed that Mom's symptoms appeared to be the same issue of a plugged sphincter at the end of her bile duct. The MRI/x-rays showed no stones, just a distended tube that backs up into her liver and pancreas making unwelcome congestion and pain. The plan was to go back in with the tube and put a stretchy balloon to open up the presumed scar tissue. Well, it turns out that the sphincter muscle in fact was not completely cut the first time this was done 3 years ago, so all he had to to was tweak that a little more, then everything started draining again just fine. She is doing well tonight and we hope to be out and about tommorrow, though going slowly.

I spent my time reading an excellent history about the Great Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918 and listening with one ear to swine flu reports on the news. So far, no remote comparison to the stories. The book has a long introduction about the state of medical study and the development of medical research at the turn of the century. Suffice it to say my profession at one hundred years ago was tragically primative and poorly regulated. We have come a long way to the place my daughter now stands.

love, dad