By the time we slogged through all of last week (snow storm, canceled meetings, sick AGAIN, stuck at home- oh, and not a lot of calls about getting me a job), I as feeling kinda down. I am must too restless to feel like 5 days at home seeing no one but Matt and Shaoshu is a life well lived (they are lovely boys, but don't I have more to offer?). Fortunately, some other friends who were also camping out at home called us over on Friday for a dinner of Raclette. If you haven't had it, meet a french person and beg them to show you how it is done- basically, you grill up some Raclette cheese, melt it over potatoes and eat with gently sauteed veggies, potatoes and fancy meats. And since we were fortunate to be hosted by an actual French person, all of the above were succulent and delish- despite the fact that they hadn't left their home in almost a week. They also let us thaw out in their hot tub over looking Lake Washington, and you must know sitting in a hot tub while it is snowing is one of life's great pleasures.
Matt has been helping me identify entry level jobs that I could pick up to keep me from feeling so isolated until a professional opportunity opens up. This kinda feels like admitting defeat, and is double heart breaking when I can't get calls back for these positions either. Ugh. However, I told some friends I was apply for entry level jobs (Cat Foster Care Coordinator!), and they've sent along info for slightly better jobs where they might be able to put in a good word. And the job boards are finally starting to open up with more biology jobs. Cross your fingers for me.
This week should be better, in particular because all my meetings from last week were rescheduled for this week, and I had stuff scheduled for this week, too. Should have plenty of excuses to leave the house, and that does a lot for my mindset. On that note, if anyone has and WA related errand they need run, just let me know! I'd be glad to nip out and check the local price of apples or put some cotlets in the mail for you! Any excuse to leave the house.
The worst of the snow is gone now, although we still have some giant icy piles in our front yard. I did use the time to put button holes in my shower curtain and get it hung, as well as start making some bags for my own use. That means I got my sewing machine up and going! And the cat has discovered his innate fondness for chasing bobbins! I need to find a better way to store things like threads and other tempting rolly-polly items, but I am pleased to say I've got a start.
Monday, January 23, 2012
Friday, January 20, 2012
Just One More Thing About Virii
The good news is that the family is feeling much better. Tyler seems like he's on the mend, mom and dad are over their respective illnesses, and the whole household is feeling relatively healthy. Which is why it's almost comical that now my computer has a virus. Ha. I managed to defeat the initial threat, but it's popped up again a few times. From what I've been told, the one I picked up is a tenacious one.
Which is why it's good that I've finally managed to get our household-wide backup working. Well, at least potentially working. My plan is to offload everything important off this computer and wipe the thing clean, then install the backup software so I don't have to worry about it anymore. All pictures of cute babies are totally safe, no worries there. It's an annoyance more than anything else, really. Just a heads up, in case you guys pick up something similar, too. If a brand new program shows up unannounced and starts 'scanning your computer' and 'discovering viruses', and then offering to delete them if you'll just 'buy the full version of the program' with your 'tender, delicious credit card', don't be fooled. You may need to do some technical gymnastics to clean up the mess, but it can be cleaned up.
Anyway, between that and some other chores, I've been keeping quite busy at home and surprisingly idle at work. Very frustrating to see Jessie have so much important stuff to do while I struggle to get even the most menial tasks. Anyway, lots has gotten done, and this weekend is definitely for relaxing. Though I've been getting a lot of exercise, too. The Kinect workouts are really tough, if you push yourself, and between that, Judo, and going out skating with Jess (I'm still practicing, she is more like a real skater) I've managed to trim a few more pounds. I don't really have a goal weight, but I've decided I'm too out of shape and need to trim up. Fortunately, I believe this will involve eating more tuna. Yum.
-N
Which is why it's good that I've finally managed to get our household-wide backup working. Well, at least potentially working. My plan is to offload everything important off this computer and wipe the thing clean, then install the backup software so I don't have to worry about it anymore. All pictures of cute babies are totally safe, no worries there. It's an annoyance more than anything else, really. Just a heads up, in case you guys pick up something similar, too. If a brand new program shows up unannounced and starts 'scanning your computer' and 'discovering viruses', and then offering to delete them if you'll just 'buy the full version of the program' with your 'tender, delicious credit card', don't be fooled. You may need to do some technical gymnastics to clean up the mess, but it can be cleaned up.
Anyway, between that and some other chores, I've been keeping quite busy at home and surprisingly idle at work. Very frustrating to see Jessie have so much important stuff to do while I struggle to get even the most menial tasks. Anyway, lots has gotten done, and this weekend is definitely for relaxing. Though I've been getting a lot of exercise, too. The Kinect workouts are really tough, if you push yourself, and between that, Judo, and going out skating with Jess (I'm still practicing, she is more like a real skater) I've managed to trim a few more pounds. I don't really have a goal weight, but I've decided I'm too out of shape and need to trim up. Fortunately, I believe this will involve eating more tuna. Yum.
-N
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Otherwise, Life is good
Couple other little updates from my glamorous life. My Chinese brother Shaoshu turned Thirty on Sunday (so old!), so we got to celebrate with some old friend, several of whom we hadn't seen since college. It was a fun party.
It is snowing in Seattle. It's not that much snow- maybe 6 inches on the ground here, getting icy on top. The real issue is that there isn't much snow removal equipment, and not a lot of experienced drivers. It's the kind of combination that makes a person want to sit at home with cocoa- which I did.
My dissertation arrived. It's anti-climatic to have the final printed version. It looks good, the images came out nice, and it is bound in black with the title along the spine. That is the end of that.
The job hunt continues. I am told this is a good time of year to be looking for a job. I have some plans to meet with more people, so the networking part is coming along. Nothing feels like it is that close to turning into a job yet (Boo), but I have got some things to keep me busy.
Like this cold. I was feeling all jealous of Noel's household being sick all the time, so I went out and got a germ of my own. Matt isn't thrilled, but that's because I have more germs than him- for now.
Overall, things seem fine. This is the first time I will have been home for a full week in over a month. I am trying get a normal life here. Seeing friends, cooking in the kitchen, that sort of stuff. I am looking forward to Nana's February visit.
It is snowing in Seattle. It's not that much snow- maybe 6 inches on the ground here, getting icy on top. The real issue is that there isn't much snow removal equipment, and not a lot of experienced drivers. It's the kind of combination that makes a person want to sit at home with cocoa- which I did.
My dissertation arrived. It's anti-climatic to have the final printed version. It looks good, the images came out nice, and it is bound in black with the title along the spine. That is the end of that.
The job hunt continues. I am told this is a good time of year to be looking for a job. I have some plans to meet with more people, so the networking part is coming along. Nothing feels like it is that close to turning into a job yet (Boo), but I have got some things to keep me busy.
Like this cold. I was feeling all jealous of Noel's household being sick all the time, so I went out and got a germ of my own. Matt isn't thrilled, but that's because I have more germs than him- for now.
Overall, things seem fine. This is the first time I will have been home for a full week in over a month. I am trying get a normal life here. Seeing friends, cooking in the kitchen, that sort of stuff. I am looking forward to Nana's February visit.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Design Make Play and NY Adventures
Last week, I settled into Chinatown, narrowly avoided food poisoning, invented AND solved a mystery settled at the New York Hall of Science while training nearly 20 new recruits for Click! Spy School. Clearly, my trip to New York was a success.
But first, the backstory on the adventure: 1) Why I was there. As a volunteer at the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh, I seemed to impress the staff with both my "knowing stuff" and also my human side (Someone actually said to me, "You just told a joke! You have a Ph.D. and you are funny!"). They think it is cool to have their very own scientist around, so they've kept me as an off site volunteer, and normally I help in developing some of the online tools we are becoming well known for.
2) Why this meeting? Are you familiar with the Maker movement? I was, vaguely, before I went, but this is a movement of non-experts and experts who are interested in getting people, including children, to engage in and influence their own world productively by Making Stuff. This encourages ownership, and independence, and creative problem solving and building new skills and collaborations, and you get stuff out of it too. The movement is decentralized for the most part, but your town may host a Maker Faire, or a Hackerspace or one of the other places or events that bring these people out. What they call the "informal education" folks (museums, afterschool programs and summer camps) are starting to take note, and this meetign was to help those of us in the informal arena think about how to effectively incorporate elements of "design, make and play" into education programs. This was hosted by the New York Hall of Science in Queens.
Take 1+ 2 and you get 3) The Carnegie Science Center of Pittsburgh submitted an application to share our Click! Spy School program, which won the juried response, and they really wanted to impress this group of assembled peers.... so they convinced the New York Hall of Science (who was hosting the event), to fly me out for the presentation.
I figured this would be must like other professional conferences I've been to- unending supply of coffee, crowds of people assembled to make the mucky-mucks feel important and a brutal schedule of talks that make you exhausted enough to sleep in a bare dorm room at the end of the day. This was not much like that. Our hotel was very posh, and located in Flushing, New York, which is New York's major Chinatown. There were about 100 participants, and from what I could tell, not a lot of mucky-mucks. Don't get me wrong, there were some really important people there, but I talked with most of them. One of the Keynote speakers came to our workshop even. Oh, and the schedule was broken up with workshops by different groups- people came from all over to present their ideas about Design, Make and Play. There were several robot building workshops, something on hydraulics, several cool techie computer type things... but obviously the coolest of all was our Spy School presentation.
It was the coolest because we showed up a day early to create a site specific workshop, a nefarious character whose grandmother was embarassed at the 1964 World's Fair (at that location) was plotting to release and acne germ via the Maker Space downstairs. But to solve the mystery (which "the agency" revealed to us within minutes of our "recruits" sitting down to begin their training), our agents were given iPhones loaded with info and clues, and sent out into the museum to gather clues or complete training programs. We got to be very secret agent-y, and the workshop was very well received. We even got some folks asking to collaborate for off-site activities! This was a big relief, because our leader, who applied to bring us here, has been involved in the program for years, became violently ill overnight with food poisoning, so two of us presented the workshop like we'd done it before. I did read dozens of pages of grant info and previous "training materials" before I came, but we were still REALLY nervous.
I got to chat up lots of people, many of whom are quite important in their own right, many more of whom are doing really really cool projects in other places. It was the funnest meeting I could have imagined, and everyone was very encouraging and open. Even during the keynote, dozens of people were taking pictures of slides or videos of the presenters- this is unheard of in science! The conference ended with a large brainstorming session to talk about what are the potential benefits of this type of work, and how can those be assessed by small, grant funded entities like us. There wasn't much extra time for site-seeing, I just hopped on my plane and headed back to snowy-Seattle.
But first, the backstory on the adventure: 1) Why I was there. As a volunteer at the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh, I seemed to impress the staff with both my "knowing stuff" and also my human side (Someone actually said to me, "You just told a joke! You have a Ph.D. and you are funny!"). They think it is cool to have their very own scientist around, so they've kept me as an off site volunteer, and normally I help in developing some of the online tools we are becoming well known for.
2) Why this meeting? Are you familiar with the Maker movement? I was, vaguely, before I went, but this is a movement of non-experts and experts who are interested in getting people, including children, to engage in and influence their own world productively by Making Stuff. This encourages ownership, and independence, and creative problem solving and building new skills and collaborations, and you get stuff out of it too. The movement is decentralized for the most part, but your town may host a Maker Faire, or a Hackerspace or one of the other places or events that bring these people out. What they call the "informal education" folks (museums, afterschool programs and summer camps) are starting to take note, and this meetign was to help those of us in the informal arena think about how to effectively incorporate elements of "design, make and play" into education programs. This was hosted by the New York Hall of Science in Queens.
Take 1+ 2 and you get 3) The Carnegie Science Center of Pittsburgh submitted an application to share our Click! Spy School program, which won the juried response, and they really wanted to impress this group of assembled peers.... so they convinced the New York Hall of Science (who was hosting the event), to fly me out for the presentation.
I figured this would be must like other professional conferences I've been to- unending supply of coffee, crowds of people assembled to make the mucky-mucks feel important and a brutal schedule of talks that make you exhausted enough to sleep in a bare dorm room at the end of the day. This was not much like that. Our hotel was very posh, and located in Flushing, New York, which is New York's major Chinatown. There were about 100 participants, and from what I could tell, not a lot of mucky-mucks. Don't get me wrong, there were some really important people there, but I talked with most of them. One of the Keynote speakers came to our workshop even. Oh, and the schedule was broken up with workshops by different groups- people came from all over to present their ideas about Design, Make and Play. There were several robot building workshops, something on hydraulics, several cool techie computer type things... but obviously the coolest of all was our Spy School presentation.
It was the coolest because we showed up a day early to create a site specific workshop, a nefarious character whose grandmother was embarassed at the 1964 World's Fair (at that location) was plotting to release and acne germ via the Maker Space downstairs. But to solve the mystery (which "the agency" revealed to us within minutes of our "recruits" sitting down to begin their training), our agents were given iPhones loaded with info and clues, and sent out into the museum to gather clues or complete training programs. We got to be very secret agent-y, and the workshop was very well received. We even got some folks asking to collaborate for off-site activities! This was a big relief, because our leader, who applied to bring us here, has been involved in the program for years, became violently ill overnight with food poisoning, so two of us presented the workshop like we'd done it before. I did read dozens of pages of grant info and previous "training materials" before I came, but we were still REALLY nervous.
I got to chat up lots of people, many of whom are quite important in their own right, many more of whom are doing really really cool projects in other places. It was the funnest meeting I could have imagined, and everyone was very encouraging and open. Even during the keynote, dozens of people were taking pictures of slides or videos of the presenters- this is unheard of in science! The conference ended with a large brainstorming session to talk about what are the potential benefits of this type of work, and how can those be assessed by small, grant funded entities like us. There wasn't much extra time for site-seeing, I just hopped on my plane and headed back to snowy-Seattle.
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Blogging About Something Other than Being Sick
Ha ha, no, just kidding. Viruses for everyone!
I spent the weekend battling off another cold. It's been since nearly Christmas since I've felt normal. With any luck, this cold won't develop into an ear infection again. But it it does, I still have the drops. Also, Tyler had a cough for a few weeks that he transferred over to us. At least we can take cough medicine, no such luck for the baby. Oh, and the antibiotics have as of yet still failed to clear up Tyler's ear infection, though you wouldn't know it by his demeanor. He's on stronger stuff now, and it seems to be working? I guess we won't know until we get him checked out by a professional with an otoscope.
Those of you with Facebook will want to check out Tyler's page in a few minutes. Jess took Tyler off to an exhibit called 'Architects of Air' where there were giant blow-up tents with cool lights inside. Jess took some pictures and video and Tyler had a blast. Really cool looking with all the colored lights. I stayed home. You know, sick.
Another tooth! I forgot to mention that one. The companion to his first top tooth is coming in. (I'm talking about Tyler, just in case anyone is confused about people I might know who are getting new teeth.) Which has led Tyler, for the first time, actually using his teeth to chew food. I've seen him do it! Witness!
In a few weeks we're off to Vegas for a hockey tournament/visit with the Vegas family. I'm sure there will be cute pictures to share with everyone when we are done, and now that we are all experienced with traveling with Tyler, the whole things should be a breeze, comparatively.
Oh, and in case anyone was curious, it wasn't Chicken Pox, so it was probably Hand/foot/Mouth disease. Seriously, there's nothing to discuss that doesn't involve viruses.
-N
I spent the weekend battling off another cold. It's been since nearly Christmas since I've felt normal. With any luck, this cold won't develop into an ear infection again. But it it does, I still have the drops. Also, Tyler had a cough for a few weeks that he transferred over to us. At least we can take cough medicine, no such luck for the baby. Oh, and the antibiotics have as of yet still failed to clear up Tyler's ear infection, though you wouldn't know it by his demeanor. He's on stronger stuff now, and it seems to be working? I guess we won't know until we get him checked out by a professional with an otoscope.
Those of you with Facebook will want to check out Tyler's page in a few minutes. Jess took Tyler off to an exhibit called 'Architects of Air' where there were giant blow-up tents with cool lights inside. Jess took some pictures and video and Tyler had a blast. Really cool looking with all the colored lights. I stayed home. You know, sick.
Another tooth! I forgot to mention that one. The companion to his first top tooth is coming in. (I'm talking about Tyler, just in case anyone is confused about people I might know who are getting new teeth.) Which has led Tyler, for the first time, actually using his teeth to chew food. I've seen him do it! Witness!
In a few weeks we're off to Vegas for a hockey tournament/visit with the Vegas family. I'm sure there will be cute pictures to share with everyone when we are done, and now that we are all experienced with traveling with Tyler, the whole things should be a breeze, comparatively.
Oh, and in case anyone was curious, it wasn't Chicken Pox, so it was probably Hand/foot/Mouth disease. Seriously, there's nothing to discuss that doesn't involve viruses.
-N
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Making my house more home-y
Matt and I got to share the weekend with Nana in Spokane. It's awesome to be so close that we can just drive over without much ado. On Friday night, we took down Nana's Christmas decorations, on Saturday she showed me some basics of stitching and mending that will come in handy as I embark on my new future as the owner of a sewing machine (yeah, I feel like this is a major upgrade in my identity). And all the while we were constantly sorting stuff. By the end of the weekend, we'd worked out a nice little system with bags and envelopes with various relatives names on them which were stuffed with photos, Christmas ornaments and the et cetera that you tend to find on these occasions. Matt was very helpful, adding 120 lbs of salt to the water softener, and doing other tall/strong tasks, as well as helping in the kitchen with a rendition of Noel's Monkey Bread (YUM).
Nana is very cheerfully jettisoning anything and everything that can possibly find a good home- and I will say that is probably her one big slow down. Once she's decided "I don't need this" it's not just a quick trip to the dump. Figuring out which relative might treasure things, or friend might still get some use out of it, or perhaps if it is only suitable for Goodwill or a pending estate sale. I do think that as the momentum builds that she'll make quick work of all this, though. We decided to pack the family photos to my house for safe keeping until Nana and I can sit down and digitize those of interest and possibly trim down those that aren't. With those out of the way, there are only a couple armloads of stuff left in the basement bedroom besides the furniture.
Our car drove back across the pass loaded down with Nana's bran muffins and cookies, all the photo albums I could get my hands on, some garden pots, Dad's cool coffee table from the basement, some of Mom's weavings, a lot of Papa's baskets, Nana's sewing table and a starter kit of fabrics, threads and awesome tools. Getting those set up at my house makes it seem instantly cozier here. Sure, we've had most of that Ikea furniture for years, but I still don't have as much affection for it as the coffee table that now sits in the living room, or the basket that now holds my remotes. It makes the house feel a lot more like a place I want to be- something I didn't realize was missing from the last decade of apartment living. You guys should all come and visit me so you know what I am talking about.
Other news- I am leaving tomorrow for 4 days in New York at the New York Hall of Science. I am hoping to be able to so some editing/writing for two separate contracts while traveling, as well as meeting some of the super awesome people who will also be at this meeting. I am way behind on my algae work, but unicorn money only gets so much priority. I had a great day on campus meeting with old professors and making some new contacts- much to follow up on there in the coming weeks. And once things settle down from my current contracts, I am gong to spend 2 weeks trying to learn to code in Python, as a test of whether I have the mentality for computer program. If so, I might learn MatLab, as a highly relevant job skill for a modern biologist- and if not, I'll focus on some of the other job skills I already have.
Nana is very cheerfully jettisoning anything and everything that can possibly find a good home- and I will say that is probably her one big slow down. Once she's decided "I don't need this" it's not just a quick trip to the dump. Figuring out which relative might treasure things, or friend might still get some use out of it, or perhaps if it is only suitable for Goodwill or a pending estate sale. I do think that as the momentum builds that she'll make quick work of all this, though. We decided to pack the family photos to my house for safe keeping until Nana and I can sit down and digitize those of interest and possibly trim down those that aren't. With those out of the way, there are only a couple armloads of stuff left in the basement bedroom besides the furniture.
Our car drove back across the pass loaded down with Nana's bran muffins and cookies, all the photo albums I could get my hands on, some garden pots, Dad's cool coffee table from the basement, some of Mom's weavings, a lot of Papa's baskets, Nana's sewing table and a starter kit of fabrics, threads and awesome tools. Getting those set up at my house makes it seem instantly cozier here. Sure, we've had most of that Ikea furniture for years, but I still don't have as much affection for it as the coffee table that now sits in the living room, or the basket that now holds my remotes. It makes the house feel a lot more like a place I want to be- something I didn't realize was missing from the last decade of apartment living. You guys should all come and visit me so you know what I am talking about.
Other news- I am leaving tomorrow for 4 days in New York at the New York Hall of Science. I am hoping to be able to so some editing/writing for two separate contracts while traveling, as well as meeting some of the super awesome people who will also be at this meeting. I am way behind on my algae work, but unicorn money only gets so much priority. I had a great day on campus meeting with old professors and making some new contacts- much to follow up on there in the coming weeks. And once things settle down from my current contracts, I am gong to spend 2 weeks trying to learn to code in Python, as a test of whether I have the mentality for computer program. If so, I might learn MatLab, as a highly relevant job skill for a modern biologist- and if not, I'll focus on some of the other job skills I already have.
Saturday, January 7, 2012
A Catalog of Misery
Illness has been blooming like springtime in the Preecs Household—Austin Branch. The cold I brought down with me refused to give up the ghost, and I was sick with it for nearly a full week until I took a full day off work to just not do anything except recover. Of course, all of that happened AFTER the ear infection.
I don't know if it was the flight, or what have you, but I've picked up an ear infection from something and it HURTS. I can totally tell why babies cry when they get these things. It kept me up most of a night just dosing myself with handfuls of Ibuprofen and waiting for it to kick in. Not a fun time. I finally managed to get in to see a doctor who gave me some antibiotic ear drops, but my ears, despite not being painful and keeping me up at night anymore, are still really clogged. I'm waiting for them to clear, but in the meantime, my hearing is terrible. And then the day after that, my cold came back with a vengeance, at the same time Jess came down with it, so we took Tyler off to day care and both stayed home and rested, like normal sick people are supposed to do.
So for the most part we are over our illnesses, except I still can't hear anything. I can see why this would be so bad for babies to have. It's hard enough to learn English when you can hear it properly.
There are other little things to talk about, but it's mostly just been illness recovery around this house. Tyler's tooth has broken through, and he spends a lot of time clicking his teeth together and driving his parents crazy with the sounds. Fingernails and chalkboards and whatnot. We got a Kinect, and have already started burning off calories with our game. Fun times. Jess is off at hockey and I'm in charge of the little one, who is taking an early nap for a while longer. After that, I will just pinch his cute little cheeks and play with whatever happens to be around here with him. Everything is a toy!
-N
I don't know if it was the flight, or what have you, but I've picked up an ear infection from something and it HURTS. I can totally tell why babies cry when they get these things. It kept me up most of a night just dosing myself with handfuls of Ibuprofen and waiting for it to kick in. Not a fun time. I finally managed to get in to see a doctor who gave me some antibiotic ear drops, but my ears, despite not being painful and keeping me up at night anymore, are still really clogged. I'm waiting for them to clear, but in the meantime, my hearing is terrible. And then the day after that, my cold came back with a vengeance, at the same time Jess came down with it, so we took Tyler off to day care and both stayed home and rested, like normal sick people are supposed to do.
So for the most part we are over our illnesses, except I still can't hear anything. I can see why this would be so bad for babies to have. It's hard enough to learn English when you can hear it properly.
There are other little things to talk about, but it's mostly just been illness recovery around this house. Tyler's tooth has broken through, and he spends a lot of time clicking his teeth together and driving his parents crazy with the sounds. Fingernails and chalkboards and whatnot. We got a Kinect, and have already started burning off calories with our game. Fun times. Jess is off at hockey and I'm in charge of the little one, who is taking an early nap for a while longer. After that, I will just pinch his cute little cheeks and play with whatever happens to be around here with him. Everything is a toy!
-N
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Just keeping busy
My mantra these days is that my life is just going to be weird for a while. It's takes the pressure off to find some quick version of "normal," and I get to enjoy all these new colorful versions of weird. I do still really want a job someday (soon would be fine), you know, with coworkers and a pay check and a sense of personal industry and dignity. Those are features I am looking for.
But, in the meantime, there is plenty of fun to be had with this flexibility. Yeah, I have plenty of time to travel (if the pass stays clear, I'll be in Spokane this weekend), and receive visitors (any and all visitors). And my financial situation (which is really Matt's financial situation), allows me to jump into opportunities that I wouldn't have forseen for myself. Textbook editing? Why not. The whole science center thing was very fun and fulfilling while I was in Pittsburgh, and they keep asking for extra help on other things- namely, next week we are flying to New York City to attend a conference and present a workshop at the NY Hall of Science. Sure, I can just take a week for that, no big.
And Bart sent me info about a STEM (Science Tech, Engineering and Math) Education meeting in Bellevue. I asked to volunteer, hoping to secure admission. Instead I've been invited to serve as a panelist. Heh, yeah.
Right now I am feeling good about this, I have people to meet and follow up with, and I just got a fairly large editing assignment from China (again! yay!). I am waiting to hear from my algae guy about moving forward on building an algae lab in the garage here to test some of his ideas for lighting ponds and my ideas for problems we might have. I'm thinking of doing a couple day in the life of a job hunter posts on the other blog, frankly the life I am living now seems weird to me too. The downside of all this glamor and unpredictability is I still don't really feel like I live here. I'm looking forward to have some real roots here and a routine, but for now I am just enjoying the ride. After I crack this job thing, I'll have predictability to the point of monotony, no rush yet.
--Update---
And I got invited to the Board Meetings for my local chapter of AWIS (because the people who write the newsletter are in the Board, of course). And the algae guy may be able to co-opt his grandmother's house as a trial site. Does this stuff happen to other people?? Back to reading out spy school for the New York Trip...
But, in the meantime, there is plenty of fun to be had with this flexibility. Yeah, I have plenty of time to travel (if the pass stays clear, I'll be in Spokane this weekend), and receive visitors (any and all visitors). And my financial situation (which is really Matt's financial situation), allows me to jump into opportunities that I wouldn't have forseen for myself. Textbook editing? Why not. The whole science center thing was very fun and fulfilling while I was in Pittsburgh, and they keep asking for extra help on other things- namely, next week we are flying to New York City to attend a conference and present a workshop at the NY Hall of Science. Sure, I can just take a week for that, no big.
And Bart sent me info about a STEM (Science Tech, Engineering and Math) Education meeting in Bellevue. I asked to volunteer, hoping to secure admission. Instead I've been invited to serve as a panelist. Heh, yeah.
Right now I am feeling good about this, I have people to meet and follow up with, and I just got a fairly large editing assignment from China (again! yay!). I am waiting to hear from my algae guy about moving forward on building an algae lab in the garage here to test some of his ideas for lighting ponds and my ideas for problems we might have. I'm thinking of doing a couple day in the life of a job hunter posts on the other blog, frankly the life I am living now seems weird to me too. The downside of all this glamor and unpredictability is I still don't really feel like I live here. I'm looking forward to have some real roots here and a routine, but for now I am just enjoying the ride. After I crack this job thing, I'll have predictability to the point of monotony, no rush yet.
--Update---
And I got invited to the Board Meetings for my local chapter of AWIS (because the people who write the newsletter are in the Board, of course). And the algae guy may be able to co-opt his grandmother's house as a trial site. Does this stuff happen to other people?? Back to reading out spy school for the New York Trip...
Monday, January 2, 2012
Happy New Year!
May 2012 be less stressful, worrisome, tedious and awful than 2011 for all you an yours!
Matt and I left Juneau a couple days before the rest so he could get back to work, and I could go through the motions of job hunting. Needless to say, I'll be working at that for a while. Does anyone know anyone else I should be meeting with or talking to in the area? I could use all the help I can get.
We had the pleasure of ringing in the new year with my gracious mother-in-law, who not only hosted us, but Shaoshu too. The dogs took such a shine to him that she's declared him "one of the herd" and invited him back for the dog birthday party in February (there will be meatloaf). As for the weekend, we finally made it to the Birdsview Brewery to sample their beers, and upgrade one of our PA growlers for the local version. This we took home to get settled in with, making and eating food for most of the rest of the weekend. Then we got to share our Third and final Christmas celebration, exchanging presents and eating. We brought Betty wooly socks, and she gave us a beautiful watercolor print, books on gardening, fun candies and cool kitchen gadgets. Did I mention she stuffed us with food all weekend, too? But we aren't completely ungrateful-We did help with the posters for the Concrete Recycled Art Contest, using old wrapping paper to add color and flair. And Matt fixed some stuff, as he always dos. And then we took home the extra food- Betty wouldn't want all that burdening her.
But back to the narrative, we rang in the new year with semi-legit roman candles from the res, and a bottle of bubbly. Since we slept so late the next day, Matt barely got in a bike ride while we made "brunch" (which is still a very legitimate description for eggs you eat at 2 in the afternoon), and then we all wanted down to the river to fly Shaoshu's radio controlled helicopter. Well, actually, Shaoshu was the only one who flew it- the control on it are insanely complicated. But the weather was spectacular, and clear view of the mountains along the river is a perfect welcome to the new year. This somehow prompted our band of brave souls to toddle off to Bellingham for some adventure, which brings us up to today. Great lunch, book browsing in Fairhaven, a quick campus tour and a long stop for ice cream- another perfect day. All of this fun an adventure is wearing on Matt a bit- he hardly comes through the door before I am pestering him to do something more fun. Clearly, I need something to occupy my time more efficiently so I don't grate on his nerves too much. I'm starting to look for more volunteer opportunities out here as well.
Matt and I left Juneau a couple days before the rest so he could get back to work, and I could go through the motions of job hunting. Needless to say, I'll be working at that for a while. Does anyone know anyone else I should be meeting with or talking to in the area? I could use all the help I can get.
We had the pleasure of ringing in the new year with my gracious mother-in-law, who not only hosted us, but Shaoshu too. The dogs took such a shine to him that she's declared him "one of the herd" and invited him back for the dog birthday party in February (there will be meatloaf). As for the weekend, we finally made it to the Birdsview Brewery to sample their beers, and upgrade one of our PA growlers for the local version. This we took home to get settled in with, making and eating food for most of the rest of the weekend. Then we got to share our Third and final Christmas celebration, exchanging presents and eating. We brought Betty wooly socks, and she gave us a beautiful watercolor print, books on gardening, fun candies and cool kitchen gadgets. Did I mention she stuffed us with food all weekend, too? But we aren't completely ungrateful-We did help with the posters for the Concrete Recycled Art Contest, using old wrapping paper to add color and flair. And Matt fixed some stuff, as he always dos. And then we took home the extra food- Betty wouldn't want all that burdening her.
But back to the narrative, we rang in the new year with semi-legit roman candles from the res, and a bottle of bubbly. Since we slept so late the next day, Matt barely got in a bike ride while we made "brunch" (which is still a very legitimate description for eggs you eat at 2 in the afternoon), and then we all wanted down to the river to fly Shaoshu's radio controlled helicopter. Well, actually, Shaoshu was the only one who flew it- the control on it are insanely complicated. But the weather was spectacular, and clear view of the mountains along the river is a perfect welcome to the new year. This somehow prompted our band of brave souls to toddle off to Bellingham for some adventure, which brings us up to today. Great lunch, book browsing in Fairhaven, a quick campus tour and a long stop for ice cream- another perfect day. All of this fun an adventure is wearing on Matt a bit- he hardly comes through the door before I am pestering him to do something more fun. Clearly, I need something to occupy my time more efficiently so I don't grate on his nerves too much. I'm starting to look for more volunteer opportunities out here as well.
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Finally back home
Yeesh, what a mess our travel was. All successful, but between Tyler's pox, pink eye, and a mysterious third ailment that I'll discuss later along with some sort of super-cold that's kept me feeling like garbage for the past three days, flying was not fun.
Let's recap Christmas, though. Tyler was an absolute gentleman. He played with everyone, let people feed him, napped well, and adjusted pretty well to his new surroundings, despite a series of illnesses that would greatly hamper any normal baby. We even got to show him off to a few other Juneau resident friends, mostly people we ran into at the airport. Next time maybe I'll just layover in Juneau for a few hours and catch all the people I know that way. Seems more efficient.
Anyway, we packed up a lot of our stuff, and a lot of Sandlin's stuff too, and I woke up feeling like a hot mess. I took some painkillers before the flight out of Juneau and got Tyler as situated as we could. He looked pretty horrible, though, all dark circles under the eyes. Still a charming smile, though. We got some complements from a lot of our fellow travelers. The flight from Juneau to Seattle went pretty well, and we got to see Aunt Sandlin and Uncle Matt one more time. Apologizing profusely for bringing so darn many germs into their house, we enjoyed some great soup and put Tyler down for a fitful sleep. He woke up in a fussy mood several times, but we managed to get a game of dominion in nonetheless.
And side note: Raoul is terrified of me. Just me, though. He would hiss and slink away every time I came into the room. I did manage to get close enough to let him sniff me at one point in the early morning, but something about my intimidatingly manly presence seemed to irk him to no end. I'm pretty butch.
I went down to sleep pretty early and nearly set the bed on fire with my heroic fever. Jess played supermom and took care of Tyler while he woke up periodically with hurting-sounding cries. I did my best to keep myself rested, but I ended up dosing myself heavily with drugs, eating a PB and J sandwich at 1:00 AM (I was hungry!) and then sleeping in another room on the futon. Rough night.
The flight from Seattle to Austin started off well enough. Tyler had a bottle and took a nap during most of the ascent. After that it got a little spotty. There were times when he was fine and dandy, making cute faces at the girls in the seats behind us, and other times when he was a bundle of nerves and complaints. He liked walking around as much as he could, though that isn't something you can do a lot of on a plane. We did our best, but were quite relieved to land, finally.
Last night Tyler went to sleep at an almost-normal time to the sound of neighborhood fireworks, though decidedly later than normal, and only needed his parents to come in once. He sounded like he was having a rough time of something, again, but we weren't sure what. Eventually I beat-boxed and danced him to sleep. I slept soundly, in between bouts of not sleeping soundly, and woke up at nearly noon. Thanks for the resting time, Jess!
Well Jess convinced me that we needed to go shopping this morning, so we went out and got some food, and while we were out, I spied what, among his other illnesses, has been making Tyler so fussy lately. New tooth! Finally! It's a top one on his right side, and it's just barely visible under the gums. We'll put up pictures of his new smile when it comes in more fully. I'm starting to get over my cold, or maybe the dayquil is just working better now. Rough travel for all involved.
-N
Let's recap Christmas, though. Tyler was an absolute gentleman. He played with everyone, let people feed him, napped well, and adjusted pretty well to his new surroundings, despite a series of illnesses that would greatly hamper any normal baby. We even got to show him off to a few other Juneau resident friends, mostly people we ran into at the airport. Next time maybe I'll just layover in Juneau for a few hours and catch all the people I know that way. Seems more efficient.
Anyway, we packed up a lot of our stuff, and a lot of Sandlin's stuff too, and I woke up feeling like a hot mess. I took some painkillers before the flight out of Juneau and got Tyler as situated as we could. He looked pretty horrible, though, all dark circles under the eyes. Still a charming smile, though. We got some complements from a lot of our fellow travelers. The flight from Juneau to Seattle went pretty well, and we got to see Aunt Sandlin and Uncle Matt one more time. Apologizing profusely for bringing so darn many germs into their house, we enjoyed some great soup and put Tyler down for a fitful sleep. He woke up in a fussy mood several times, but we managed to get a game of dominion in nonetheless.
And side note: Raoul is terrified of me. Just me, though. He would hiss and slink away every time I came into the room. I did manage to get close enough to let him sniff me at one point in the early morning, but something about my intimidatingly manly presence seemed to irk him to no end. I'm pretty butch.
I went down to sleep pretty early and nearly set the bed on fire with my heroic fever. Jess played supermom and took care of Tyler while he woke up periodically with hurting-sounding cries. I did my best to keep myself rested, but I ended up dosing myself heavily with drugs, eating a PB and J sandwich at 1:00 AM (I was hungry!) and then sleeping in another room on the futon. Rough night.
The flight from Seattle to Austin started off well enough. Tyler had a bottle and took a nap during most of the ascent. After that it got a little spotty. There were times when he was fine and dandy, making cute faces at the girls in the seats behind us, and other times when he was a bundle of nerves and complaints. He liked walking around as much as he could, though that isn't something you can do a lot of on a plane. We did our best, but were quite relieved to land, finally.
Last night Tyler went to sleep at an almost-normal time to the sound of neighborhood fireworks, though decidedly later than normal, and only needed his parents to come in once. He sounded like he was having a rough time of something, again, but we weren't sure what. Eventually I beat-boxed and danced him to sleep. I slept soundly, in between bouts of not sleeping soundly, and woke up at nearly noon. Thanks for the resting time, Jess!
Well Jess convinced me that we needed to go shopping this morning, so we went out and got some food, and while we were out, I spied what, among his other illnesses, has been making Tyler so fussy lately. New tooth! Finally! It's a top one on his right side, and it's just barely visible under the gums. We'll put up pictures of his new smile when it comes in more fully. I'm starting to get over my cold, or maybe the dayquil is just working better now. Rough travel for all involved.
-N
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