Another round of vignettes from our life.
The third of 4 weddings was over the weekend. We got to show up early, help with the set-up and generally goof off with the groom's part of the wedding party. It was a beautiful spot in the woodsy part of Skagit county, and I got to catch up with some old friends from high school.
The fourth wedding will be next weekend in Toronto. Matt won't be joining me (see last entry on Death Valley).
* * *
We have an apple tree.
Like all the things in our garden, it must learn to thrive with a steady pace of benign neglect. It was pruned last year, and had precious little attention since then.
Wednesday night, we pulled down 60 pounds of apples. From the fruit left on the tree, I expect another 60 lbs.
Matt wants to press and ferment these. I would be happy to make a lot of applesauce. We will see what gets accomplished before we both leave town again.
* * *
I defended my PhD more than 3 years ago. Pretty cool right? Every so often, I will ask myself if I miss benchwork, and if I should go back and do a post-doc. This is important, because many types of funding for postdocs are only available for 5 years after defense. I still don't feel like going back to the bench, but I was reminded on another type of fellowship that is only available for 5 years after defense. It's a science policy fellowship. My application is due at the end of the month.
* * *
My work has gotten "busy." To help my boss during a course of medical leave, I was assigned to project manage a small contract to create educational simulations. Fortunately for her, my boss has had much more energy and enthusiasm for her work than anyone has predicated. As a result, but job is not busy with decision making and leadership, but composing and waiting for replies to emails that need to be coordinated. This is less glamorous than I expected.
* * *
I've been lifting weights some this summer. I have a set of hobbyist weights that Shaoshu gave me when he moved. My big lifts (squats, deadlift, bench press) are just moving into the range of weight that would allow me to put weight on the 45 lb Olympic weight bar at a normal gym.
That's kinda cool.
Showing posts with label my glamorous life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label my glamorous life. Show all posts
Sunday, August 24, 2014
Friday, July 13, 2012
If this were my life, it would be ok
Our trip to Juneau was a fantastic last hurrah, and Matt and I came back to Washington energized to conquer the beautiful summer here. And Matt's bestie left his kiddo with the grandparents in Juneau for another week, so they are acting like maniacs trying to get in all the energetic, difficult to coordinate with daycare activities they can this week. And a friend of ours was snowed out of her post-defense hike of the Pacific Crest Trail (Canada to Mexico), so she has been staying with us, and enjoying not being in grad school from the suburbs instead of the middle of nowhere. She'll be with us until the NEXT wedding next week (OMG Wade and Jessi!!). AND I've got some good contract work right now.
I mention all this, because my life has suddenly become really acceptable. Basically, I get up to work all day, and when I wander downstairs for more coffee or apples, my friend is there to give me a weather update on the trail or remind me what normal people learned in health class. (The next contract is to design some new Health modules for high schoolers.) And then when I am done working, or just feel like I've made enough money, we go do something fun like run around downtown, or see Shaoshu demonstrate his latest Latin Dance performance (it was AMAZING!). I know things are a little different now since we've got a guest, and summer seems like a big time for curriculum development. But if this where what my life turns into for a while, I think I could be ok with that.
I mention all this, because my life has suddenly become really acceptable. Basically, I get up to work all day, and when I wander downstairs for more coffee or apples, my friend is there to give me a weather update on the trail or remind me what normal people learned in health class. (The next contract is to design some new Health modules for high schoolers.) And then when I am done working, or just feel like I've made enough money, we go do something fun like run around downtown, or see Shaoshu demonstrate his latest Latin Dance performance (it was AMAZING!). I know things are a little different now since we've got a guest, and summer seems like a big time for curriculum development. But if this where what my life turns into for a while, I think I could be ok with that.
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Weird and great day!
Weird part first: I had an "informational interview" today at a small biopharma place. That's in quotes because I intended to find out more about this company, but ended up answering a tirade of really weird questions that started with "Tell me your life story." Moved to, "Are you smart? How do you know, is it because things were always easy for you, or because you have done hard things?" well past, "Are you good in the lab? Do you love it? Did you love grad school?" and ended abruptly at, "Well, I wouldn't give you a job. You don't have any experience. But you've got something. I like that." Nifty. A story perhaps best left for the other blog- but it is always nice to confirm that I have more personality than "the walking dead," as this CSO put it. However, I still have lots of questions about that company.
Great part: Nana's house sold! And closed! And it's done. Nice! We celebrated by going to Tandem- which would be my new favorite restaurant even if it weren't run by my cousins. Seriously, that food is crazy good, and Nana's niece is the hostess. It's technically a wine and cheese bar, but you'd be a fool not to eat the halibut or the crab cakes or cheesecake. They get as much local and organic as possible, grow at lot at their own Bothell home(!), and send your to-go box home on a plate from the kitchen. So you have to come back. Like you'd protest.
And by way of announcement, we are going to Concrete to visit Betty for the weekend. We are taking Nana. We are told that there are even MORE hummingbirds, if that is possible. We are also going to try to drive across the pass to Winthrop, which was the home-base of the Froggy 5*, Nana's life long college and camping friends. None of them live there now, but it's cool to visit old stomping grounds. The trip is to celebrate Matt getting a day off from truck driving, and the approximate anniversary of our being together for TEN YEARS. Or a VERY LONG TIME. I think we must be old because our best idea for how to celebrate was to spend time with our family. Heh.
*Nana story. Heard it?
Great part: Nana's house sold! And closed! And it's done. Nice! We celebrated by going to Tandem- which would be my new favorite restaurant even if it weren't run by my cousins. Seriously, that food is crazy good, and Nana's niece is the hostess. It's technically a wine and cheese bar, but you'd be a fool not to eat the halibut or the crab cakes or cheesecake. They get as much local and organic as possible, grow at lot at their own Bothell home(!), and send your to-go box home on a plate from the kitchen. So you have to come back. Like you'd protest.
And by way of announcement, we are going to Concrete to visit Betty for the weekend. We are taking Nana. We are told that there are even MORE hummingbirds, if that is possible. We are also going to try to drive across the pass to Winthrop, which was the home-base of the Froggy 5*, Nana's life long college and camping friends. None of them live there now, but it's cool to visit old stomping grounds. The trip is to celebrate Matt getting a day off from truck driving, and the approximate anniversary of our being together for TEN YEARS. Or a VERY LONG TIME. I think we must be old because our best idea for how to celebrate was to spend time with our family. Heh.
*Nana story. Heard it?
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Dad was here!
Living in WA is great. Other people want to come here too, so you get to see them sometimes. It's ideal.
Dad came down for some CEUs, and although we didn't get to hang around a lot (something about work still to do at the house- who is excited for THAT to be done??), we grabbed some extra hugs and had the fanciest steak house dinner I've ever had. I enjoyed the pants off my salmon, and all the sides where amazing. Lobster Mashed potatoes? Those big roasty mushrooms? Creamed Spinach, that really should have been called creamed bacon with some leaves in it? Oh yeah- we were living large. WE had so much food that we actually got a box for the SPARE bread pudding. Yes, you read that correctly, Dad couldn't finish his bread pudding, so now I will. Sometimes I worry my family must think I am starving/sub-par in the kitchen. I will work on dissuading you all of this when I feel at leisure to commit myself to some time in there. In the meantime, yes, I will eat ALL the leftovers.
And that was really nice, because otherwise it was a kinda bad week. I got a parking ticket at my internship, and we had a legal issue at work that required me to stay late. Ahem. And work Saturday. And I still didn't get a job offer for my dream job. So it was really nice to see my Dad and talk to him about MRI data and hear about the updates to his retirement schedule (just another year or 2, people!) and get some extra hugs.
Dad came down for some CEUs, and although we didn't get to hang around a lot (something about work still to do at the house- who is excited for THAT to be done??), we grabbed some extra hugs and had the fanciest steak house dinner I've ever had. I enjoyed the pants off my salmon, and all the sides where amazing. Lobster Mashed potatoes? Those big roasty mushrooms? Creamed Spinach, that really should have been called creamed bacon with some leaves in it? Oh yeah- we were living large. WE had so much food that we actually got a box for the SPARE bread pudding. Yes, you read that correctly, Dad couldn't finish his bread pudding, so now I will. Sometimes I worry my family must think I am starving/sub-par in the kitchen. I will work on dissuading you all of this when I feel at leisure to commit myself to some time in there. In the meantime, yes, I will eat ALL the leftovers.
And that was really nice, because otherwise it was a kinda bad week. I got a parking ticket at my internship, and we had a legal issue at work that required me to stay late. Ahem. And work Saturday. And I still didn't get a job offer for my dream job. So it was really nice to see my Dad and talk to him about MRI data and hear about the updates to his retirement schedule (just another year or 2, people!) and get some extra hugs.
Monday, March 12, 2012
Always looking for adventure
Just checked the score card for the weekend, my life is pretty good. Friday night, we went to see The Capitol Steps performing in Bothell with Anne Cox- which was HILARIOUS. I know them as an NPR radio show that mocks current events, musical style- and they were oh so good live.
Saturday, even though Matt had a bit of a cold, he decided to go buy a unicycle of craiglist. We both spent a little time trying it out in the garage. Before we started, Matt said, "do you think we need helmets?" After the first try, yeah, you should always wear a helmet on a unicycle. It's like sitting on a surprise eject button. Matt is progressing much quicker then me, he can pedal a couple strokes before he gets ejected. Me? I just let go of the wall and fall off. It's a work in progress.
After that hilarity, we decided to go for a Bike ride on the nice wide trail (path? it's paved) near out house. On bikes, we made it up past Nana's new home no problem. Well, actually the problem was that Matt gave me the warm gloves, and it was raining and his hands got cold. But on a NICE day, it would be an easy ride. Afterwards we needed a warm up, and nothing suits better when you a frigid and soggy than Vietnamese Pho. I was reflecting that it is always hot and muggy in Vietnam, so I can't imagine how they came up for such a perfect cure for the drizzles: hot and spicy noodle soup. Matt's cold caught up with him a bit, so we had a long nap, which just set us up to stay up way too late watching TV until the time change.
On Sunday we had a really heroic grocery shopping trip since I am now keeping a working person schedule (even if I am not being paid for all those hours). In addition to being a teller, my internship at the UW started. I'm not being paid, and I'm not really sure how this will convert into a career opportunity for me, but I'm glad to be thinking about science again. It's hard to fit it in with my mid-day teller schedule, so I am hoping my schedule at the bank will mellow out to make that easier in the next couple weeks. Now I am "working" at various places about 30 hours a week, and filling the rest of my time driving to those places. Knowing that my schedule was about to get hectic, we shared a hot pot dinner with some friends.
Someday soon when the weather isn't so wet, I am going to try and get some garden action going. We've got crocuses coming up already, which I think means it isn't too soon to decide where at my house should become a garden. Wish me luck!
Saturday, even though Matt had a bit of a cold, he decided to go buy a unicycle of craiglist. We both spent a little time trying it out in the garage. Before we started, Matt said, "do you think we need helmets?" After the first try, yeah, you should always wear a helmet on a unicycle. It's like sitting on a surprise eject button. Matt is progressing much quicker then me, he can pedal a couple strokes before he gets ejected. Me? I just let go of the wall and fall off. It's a work in progress.
After that hilarity, we decided to go for a Bike ride on the nice wide trail (path? it's paved) near out house. On bikes, we made it up past Nana's new home no problem. Well, actually the problem was that Matt gave me the warm gloves, and it was raining and his hands got cold. But on a NICE day, it would be an easy ride. Afterwards we needed a warm up, and nothing suits better when you a frigid and soggy than Vietnamese Pho. I was reflecting that it is always hot and muggy in Vietnam, so I can't imagine how they came up for such a perfect cure for the drizzles: hot and spicy noodle soup. Matt's cold caught up with him a bit, so we had a long nap, which just set us up to stay up way too late watching TV until the time change.
On Sunday we had a really heroic grocery shopping trip since I am now keeping a working person schedule (even if I am not being paid for all those hours). In addition to being a teller, my internship at the UW started. I'm not being paid, and I'm not really sure how this will convert into a career opportunity for me, but I'm glad to be thinking about science again. It's hard to fit it in with my mid-day teller schedule, so I am hoping my schedule at the bank will mellow out to make that easier in the next couple weeks. Now I am "working" at various places about 30 hours a week, and filling the rest of my time driving to those places. Knowing that my schedule was about to get hectic, we shared a hot pot dinner with some friends.
Someday soon when the weather isn't so wet, I am going to try and get some garden action going. We've got crocuses coming up already, which I think means it isn't too soon to decide where at my house should become a garden. Wish me luck!
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.
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, December 11, 2011
These are a few of my favorite things
I got to spend the last couple days in Austin Texas indulging in some of my favorite things- squishy baby cheeks, dorky science, great friends, fun with the family and so much yummy food I'm not eating again until Christmas. I came down for an algae workshop and met a friend from Pittsburgh who got me interested in algae for biodiesel in the first place. It was at the University of Texas, so we BOTH got to stay with my favorite Texans, Noel, Jessie and uh... oh yeah, my nephew THE BEST BABY IN THE WORLD. How fun!
The workshop was fantastic! We learned SO much, and I've got some big ambitions for when I get back. I also got to meet some great people, and hope to be able to keep those contacts. And frankly I've been fighting the urge all day to stop playing with Tyler to check my email, make some calls to some people, look up some things online... my excitement over this workshop will still be available after Tuesday- Tyler's lovely little cheeks will be thousands of miles away by then. Prioritize. My former coworker/classmate Karen is one of my favorite people to indulge in this type of dorkitude with, she is even more excited and motivated and forward thinking about turning a PhD in yeast into a career in green energy, so it's really great to have someone I trust and enjoy so much to take a class with, to share these contacts with and continue to rehash our experience with. And I got a dose of Pittsburgh news, which made me feel like I'm not so far away yet.
And I did get to see lots of Tyler. I was a little sad that he didn't recognize me when I first arrived (I was here just a couple months ago), but he warmed up to both me and Karen within a couple days. The real test will be to see if he likes me again at Christmas. Oo, AND Karen and I got to Babysit for Tyler while his parents went out just to have fun. They enjoyed the company holiday party, and we invited some other former Pittsburghers over to catch up and watch the baby monitor (the baby was 100% asleep on my watch). It was great all around.
Once the workshop was over, we were free to play. We managed to eat almost all the food in Austin: BBQ, Tex-Mex, more BBQ, truck food, giant donuts, Giant onion rings, most of Whole Foods... like I said, I may never be hungry again. In between eating, we did a little shopping in South Congress, and took a nice walk in the Zilker Botanical Gardens. This helped us work up an appetite for even more eating- including Noel's rendition of Mom's beautiful stuffed pumpkin, and Noel's famous Egg Nog French Toast. Yes. Noel loves me very much. He even braided my hair every day. I'm not sure what I did to endear him to me so much, but if he keeps treating me so nice, I'll probably come back next weekend.
The workshop was fantastic! We learned SO much, and I've got some big ambitions for when I get back. I also got to meet some great people, and hope to be able to keep those contacts. And frankly I've been fighting the urge all day to stop playing with Tyler to check my email, make some calls to some people, look up some things online... my excitement over this workshop will still be available after Tuesday- Tyler's lovely little cheeks will be thousands of miles away by then. Prioritize. My former coworker/classmate Karen is one of my favorite people to indulge in this type of dorkitude with, she is even more excited and motivated and forward thinking about turning a PhD in yeast into a career in green energy, so it's really great to have someone I trust and enjoy so much to take a class with, to share these contacts with and continue to rehash our experience with. And I got a dose of Pittsburgh news, which made me feel like I'm not so far away yet.
And I did get to see lots of Tyler. I was a little sad that he didn't recognize me when I first arrived (I was here just a couple months ago), but he warmed up to both me and Karen within a couple days. The real test will be to see if he likes me again at Christmas. Oo, AND Karen and I got to Babysit for Tyler while his parents went out just to have fun. They enjoyed the company holiday party, and we invited some other former Pittsburghers over to catch up and watch the baby monitor (the baby was 100% asleep on my watch). It was great all around.
Once the workshop was over, we were free to play. We managed to eat almost all the food in Austin: BBQ, Tex-Mex, more BBQ, truck food, giant donuts, Giant onion rings, most of Whole Foods... like I said, I may never be hungry again. In between eating, we did a little shopping in South Congress, and took a nice walk in the Zilker Botanical Gardens. This helped us work up an appetite for even more eating- including Noel's rendition of Mom's beautiful stuffed pumpkin, and Noel's famous Egg Nog French Toast. Yes. Noel loves me very much. He even braided my hair every day. I'm not sure what I did to endear him to me so much, but if he keeps treating me so nice, I'll probably come back next weekend.
Friday, December 2, 2011
I am visiting Nana=Awesome
Boohoo, woe is me. I don't have a job so the only thing I have to fill my time with is visiting my family and fantastic adventures. Pity me.
This week, the pity party is in Spokane, where Nana and I are gearing up for the Christmas season, for her visit to Seattle and her pending move out of the house. She is in really good spirits about a move (although having a Christmas tree up has that affect on most of us). We've been talking about it a lot, what the possibilities are, what she hopes for, how it all might work. It's actually kind of exciting, although there is a lot of legwork remaining to be done. But I keep trying to tell Nana I want her to move across the mountains for selfish reasons: because I want to hang out with her more. I might escalate this argument to saying aggregation the family will have a more magnetic draw on great-grandbabies from TX, if you catch my drift.
And Nana has been working very consistently on paring down the house. I am taking a suitcase full of stuff back to my house this weekend. I mention this because I know my siblings/cousins feel a little squeamish about vulturing over Nana's stuff. But people, this is Nana- she is utterly unattached to her "mortal possessions." This means, Noel, that if she happens to mention a book, or a table cloth, or a set of candlesticks that you might like, that is basically it's last stop before goodwill. There isn't a phone tree in action over these things, and most of the the things that she thinks of as "her things" (ie: not from her Mom, or sister or grandmother), she is very happy to part with. You can all expect, after the holidays, a box with your Christmas ornaments, and possibly childhood portraits which she is ready to part with. But otherwise, if you wanted to help her get stuff out of her house, I think she would be grateful. She is getting rid of it in one way or another. My luggage from this trip has some gardening books, a wooly blanket from Wales, and the "kid's toys" that Nana has had on hand for when kids come to her house (you may remember some of these children. I was once one of them).
Nana and I went to see a fantastic performance of a Christmas Carol last night at the Civic Theatre, which prompted us to think about the season tickets we would buy together for a West side theatre. And we made oodles of Candy, some of which will go with us to the Raku firing later today, which is a potluck event at this studio. We are also going in for pedicures a little later, and Saturday we are headed to My House in Kirkland for continued adventuring.
This week, the pity party is in Spokane, where Nana and I are gearing up for the Christmas season, for her visit to Seattle and her pending move out of the house. She is in really good spirits about a move (although having a Christmas tree up has that affect on most of us). We've been talking about it a lot, what the possibilities are, what she hopes for, how it all might work. It's actually kind of exciting, although there is a lot of legwork remaining to be done. But I keep trying to tell Nana I want her to move across the mountains for selfish reasons: because I want to hang out with her more. I might escalate this argument to saying aggregation the family will have a more magnetic draw on great-grandbabies from TX, if you catch my drift.
And Nana has been working very consistently on paring down the house. I am taking a suitcase full of stuff back to my house this weekend. I mention this because I know my siblings/cousins feel a little squeamish about vulturing over Nana's stuff. But people, this is Nana- she is utterly unattached to her "mortal possessions." This means, Noel, that if she happens to mention a book, or a table cloth, or a set of candlesticks that you might like, that is basically it's last stop before goodwill. There isn't a phone tree in action over these things, and most of the the things that she thinks of as "her things" (ie: not from her Mom, or sister or grandmother), she is very happy to part with. You can all expect, after the holidays, a box with your Christmas ornaments, and possibly childhood portraits which she is ready to part with. But otherwise, if you wanted to help her get stuff out of her house, I think she would be grateful. She is getting rid of it in one way or another. My luggage from this trip has some gardening books, a wooly blanket from Wales, and the "kid's toys" that Nana has had on hand for when kids come to her house (you may remember some of these children. I was once one of them).
Nana and I went to see a fantastic performance of a Christmas Carol last night at the Civic Theatre, which prompted us to think about the season tickets we would buy together for a West side theatre. And we made oodles of Candy, some of which will go with us to the Raku firing later today, which is a potluck event at this studio. We are also going in for pedicures a little later, and Saturday we are headed to My House in Kirkland for continued adventuring.
Friday, November 18, 2011
Things are good
Great news! My life is awesome!
I supposed that's kinda a weird lead, but that's pretty much all I want to cover in this post. I've been doing awesome stuff ever since I got here. We've seen Shaoshu and Jeffrey lots, I got to go for a nice walk in the park behind the house, and I found and old log cabin. I took the bus into Kirkland for a fun adventure, and there are lots of great coffee and restaurants for investigation. Last night Matt and I went to the Kirkland Costco, which is like the Costco Mothership. Tonight we are going for hot pot, and on Sunday Matt's mom is coming to see our new place and plan our delicious Thanksgiving plans.
Oh, AND I get to continue my volunteer work at the science center off site (awesome!). If it weren't for the fact that I don't have an income or a daily way to feel industrious, I would say life is pretty much perfect. Since I am applying for jobs everyday, I'm pretty sure that is a temporary thing anyway, which makes me pretty optimistic about my future here. I just have to find someway to keep up with Matt's heroic athleticism- he and Jeffrey will be trail running for an hour after work today, and I have yet to shake off the celebratory eating of my last month or so in Pittsburgh.
I supposed that's kinda a weird lead, but that's pretty much all I want to cover in this post. I've been doing awesome stuff ever since I got here. We've seen Shaoshu and Jeffrey lots, I got to go for a nice walk in the park behind the house, and I found and old log cabin. I took the bus into Kirkland for a fun adventure, and there are lots of great coffee and restaurants for investigation. Last night Matt and I went to the Kirkland Costco, which is like the Costco Mothership. Tonight we are going for hot pot, and on Sunday Matt's mom is coming to see our new place and plan our delicious Thanksgiving plans.
Oh, AND I get to continue my volunteer work at the science center off site (awesome!). If it weren't for the fact that I don't have an income or a daily way to feel industrious, I would say life is pretty much perfect. Since I am applying for jobs everyday, I'm pretty sure that is a temporary thing anyway, which makes me pretty optimistic about my future here. I just have to find someway to keep up with Matt's heroic athleticism- he and Jeffrey will be trail running for an hour after work today, and I have yet to shake off the celebratory eating of my last month or so in Pittsburgh.
Saturday, October 15, 2011
You guys earned it!
Thanks for supporting our campaign to raise money for DonorsChoose, dearest readers! You generous people definitely deserve an actual blog update.
My last informative update was to tell you that Matt and I are moving to Kirkland, WA. Feel free to Dance around in happiness- that's pretty much what I've been up to all week. When I dropped this bomb on Nana during my visit to Spokane, she was thrilled, and then DOUBLE thrilled when Mom and Dad decided to bring us from Spokane to Seattle for the weekend. I got in a little house hunting. By which I mean I rented us a house to live in in the Northern Kirkland area. It will be a great place for us, 3br, 2+ Bath, 2 car garage, a yard. It's on a greenway, and only about 15 minutes driving to Matt's new work.
When I got back to Pittsburgh, Matt and I finally got to celebrate his good news together. We went to a foodie restaurant called NaCl to eat until we were ready to burst, and catch up from our time apart. It was fun talking about our new place, the things we'll get up to in our new life, the things Matt got up to finish up his commitments here. It was fun. And delicious.
This week I've been trying to get lots done at the Science Center. Next week is National Chemistry week, and I'll be helping volunteers do a demonstration of the physical changes of crystal forms- ie, making candy. I've recruited a few people from Pitt, and am trying to get some more hands to help out. It's pretty exciting to be able to participate in these things.
One of the things I'll miss about Pittsburgh is being able to volunteer, it makes me feel productive and helps me develop professional skills and contacts (I have a budget!). When I get to Seattle, my job hunt will hopefully change forms a bit, since I can spend more time in face to face contacts. But I'll still have a LOT of freetime. This is one reason I am pursuing a short off-site contract with a biofuel company in BC. It will keep me busy, and also provide those professional skills and contacts that my volunteer work did. The compensation will be in equity, so I am thinking about this like an unpaid internship rather than a job yet. But this does remind me that, um... I think my professional life is just going to weird for a while. I know there isn't a straight way to navigate the route I am hoping to take, so it shouldn't be surprising that I am doing a lot of non-linear things to bulk up my CV. Cross your fingers for an eventual pay-off in the form of a full-time job.
Otherwise, we are working out a timeline for this move. Movers are coming to get our stuff on the 24th and 25th. Matt and the cat will be leaving Oct 27th, which is when our lease starts in Kirkland. It's not clear yet when our stuff will arrive, but after Matt, certainly. I am planning to stay for the Nov 12 event at the Science Center, and am thinking I may stay through Monday to see a friend defend (but Matt might be tired of holding down the house alone by then). I'll get a couple extra rounds of goodbyes with friends in the meantime though.
My last informative update was to tell you that Matt and I are moving to Kirkland, WA. Feel free to Dance around in happiness- that's pretty much what I've been up to all week. When I dropped this bomb on Nana during my visit to Spokane, she was thrilled, and then DOUBLE thrilled when Mom and Dad decided to bring us from Spokane to Seattle for the weekend. I got in a little house hunting. By which I mean I rented us a house to live in in the Northern Kirkland area. It will be a great place for us, 3br, 2+ Bath, 2 car garage, a yard. It's on a greenway, and only about 15 minutes driving to Matt's new work.
When I got back to Pittsburgh, Matt and I finally got to celebrate his good news together. We went to a foodie restaurant called NaCl to eat until we were ready to burst, and catch up from our time apart. It was fun talking about our new place, the things we'll get up to in our new life, the things Matt got up to finish up his commitments here. It was fun. And delicious.
This week I've been trying to get lots done at the Science Center. Next week is National Chemistry week, and I'll be helping volunteers do a demonstration of the physical changes of crystal forms- ie, making candy. I've recruited a few people from Pitt, and am trying to get some more hands to help out. It's pretty exciting to be able to participate in these things.
One of the things I'll miss about Pittsburgh is being able to volunteer, it makes me feel productive and helps me develop professional skills and contacts (I have a budget!). When I get to Seattle, my job hunt will hopefully change forms a bit, since I can spend more time in face to face contacts. But I'll still have a LOT of freetime. This is one reason I am pursuing a short off-site contract with a biofuel company in BC. It will keep me busy, and also provide those professional skills and contacts that my volunteer work did. The compensation will be in equity, so I am thinking about this like an unpaid internship rather than a job yet. But this does remind me that, um... I think my professional life is just going to weird for a while. I know there isn't a straight way to navigate the route I am hoping to take, so it shouldn't be surprising that I am doing a lot of non-linear things to bulk up my CV. Cross your fingers for an eventual pay-off in the form of a full-time job.
Otherwise, we are working out a timeline for this move. Movers are coming to get our stuff on the 24th and 25th. Matt and the cat will be leaving Oct 27th, which is when our lease starts in Kirkland. It's not clear yet when our stuff will arrive, but after Matt, certainly. I am planning to stay for the Nov 12 event at the Science Center, and am thinking I may stay through Monday to see a friend defend (but Matt might be tired of holding down the house alone by then). I'll get a couple extra rounds of goodbyes with friends in the meantime though.
Saturday, October 8, 2011
These are family heirlooms
Nana and I have been springing around Spokane, having all kinds of grand adventures. Today we checked out a Raku firing workshop, hanging around potters all day was a nice warm up to going to see the Prohibition era Perfectly Modern Millie, full of great dancing and Fabulous Costumes- such fun!
But in between adventures, Nana unearthed a folder of letters she had written to her mother during their time in Alaska. Yup, onion skin, type writer pages, that her Mom thoughtfully dated for when they became family heirlooms. (Guess thoughtful mothering runs in the family!) We are bringing it to share with Dad and Bart on our mini family reunion- well surprise them, I hope. If I can get their permission (their childhood antics being the main feature of the letters), I might try and copy some highlights to the blog. There are some fantastic Papa stories, early pioneer adventures and childhood shenanigans never previously discussed.
The adventure continues in Seattle at 0'dark thirty tomorrow, so I'm off to bed. Just needed to brag a little more about how much fun Nana and I are having.
But in between adventures, Nana unearthed a folder of letters she had written to her mother during their time in Alaska. Yup, onion skin, type writer pages, that her Mom thoughtfully dated for when they became family heirlooms. (Guess thoughtful mothering runs in the family!) We are bringing it to share with Dad and Bart on our mini family reunion- well surprise them, I hope. If I can get their permission (their childhood antics being the main feature of the letters), I might try and copy some highlights to the blog. There are some fantastic Papa stories, early pioneer adventures and childhood shenanigans never previously discussed.
The adventure continues in Seattle at 0'dark thirty tomorrow, so I'm off to bed. Just needed to brag a little more about how much fun Nana and I are having.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Moving to Seattle!
By now, you probably all know that Matt has accepted a job (is dream job too strong?), and that we'll be relocating to Kirkland WA for him to start work in November. He has given two weeks notice, we've told our landlord, and... the rest we need to decide. In the meantime, though, I am in Spokane celebrating with Nana. And who better to celebrate with than Nana? Unlike our friends back home who were happy for us in a "but that means you are leaving" kind of way, she and I are just blissed out, thinking of all the cool ways that this changes our lives for the better. Like, I can come visit for long weekends. Or she can come visit me! Or, it's no big deal to get the whole family together. Or to wait out time changes for phone calls. I'm going to try and convince her to move West for my sake, but really, being in the same time zone will be SOO much nicer. There are so many way this is great news!
And can I brag on Matt for a little? He made me swear to secrecy about this whole affair, from his application, to the interview he was flown to Seattle for, even through the negotiations and the final offer. He is very private, he didn't want a whiff of this to hit his current employer, and he didn't want to have to deal with any public disappointment. Even when all signs were pointing towards "THEY LOVE YOU," he was cautious. They flew him across the country, put him up in a hotel and rented him a car to go and visit his Mom in, and he didn't want me to say anything. They gave him an offer letter, which he signed, and the movers had called us, and he didn't want me to say anything until his references reported back. But Friday he got the final green light from the new job, and we are thrilled with the result. He'll be working as a design engineer at major truck company, who recognize both his years of experience, as well as his fancy degree from Western. It's a promotion in both title and pay, and it's much more in line with what he always wanted to use his eduction for. I'm so happy for him to get a chance to think about cars all day, since that is what he'd be doing if he didn't have to work anyway. It's a great offer, which he absolutely deserved!
Yes, so very exciting times. Nana and I are going to celebrate the excitement by meeting up with Mom and Dad in Seattle this weekend (see how close Spokane and Seattle are?) to be giddy with excitement some more, and also maybe all daydream about the future together. So glamourous. Yes, I have unfortunately left Matt to shoulder the burden of the anxiety about the move for the rest of the week, but I promise I'll be back in full force next week! Sorry honey!
And can I brag on Matt for a little? He made me swear to secrecy about this whole affair, from his application, to the interview he was flown to Seattle for, even through the negotiations and the final offer. He is very private, he didn't want a whiff of this to hit his current employer, and he didn't want to have to deal with any public disappointment. Even when all signs were pointing towards "THEY LOVE YOU," he was cautious. They flew him across the country, put him up in a hotel and rented him a car to go and visit his Mom in, and he didn't want me to say anything. They gave him an offer letter, which he signed, and the movers had called us, and he didn't want me to say anything until his references reported back. But Friday he got the final green light from the new job, and we are thrilled with the result. He'll be working as a design engineer at major truck company, who recognize both his years of experience, as well as his fancy degree from Western. It's a promotion in both title and pay, and it's much more in line with what he always wanted to use his eduction for. I'm so happy for him to get a chance to think about cars all day, since that is what he'd be doing if he didn't have to work anyway. It's a great offer, which he absolutely deserved!
Yes, so very exciting times. Nana and I are going to celebrate the excitement by meeting up with Mom and Dad in Seattle this weekend (see how close Spokane and Seattle are?) to be giddy with excitement some more, and also maybe all daydream about the future together. So glamourous. Yes, I have unfortunately left Matt to shoulder the burden of the anxiety about the move for the rest of the week, but I promise I'll be back in full force next week! Sorry honey!
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Great pots! And plates!
We went out to the kiln last night to unload. This is really exciting, it's the one time you get to see the pieces that other people made, and it gives you a sense of what is possible in wood firing. The firing went really well (as mentioned), and our stuff turned out really great. With luck I'll share some photos soon, but a quick summary, I spent the first couple weeks making plates and casserole dishes- which turned out great. I found it is easier for me to improve if I just focus on one form at a time Of course, none of the plates are the same size- I have pyramid shaped stacks with plates from 13 inches to 6- but that just means you can decide exactly how much food you want and it can look just right on your plate.
The casseroles are pretty cool- I'm not sure why it took such a long time to decide to make these shapes (perhaps because lots of my earlier stuff leaked, but I think we solved that), but I am really happy with them. Now I wish I'd thought more about making standard sizes- but really I just want to bake something cheesy in them.
Later in the class I started throwing taller shapes- so lots of tall (ish) skinny (ish) vases. Awesome! The kiln was REALLY full, so by the time we arrived late Friday, we were making major efforts to stack things. Having shells (from Alaska!) meant we could stack pieces together and break them apart later, because the shell degrades into a salty skeleton of it's former self. Although- it turns out the the blue mussel shells vitrify, rather than disolve. In some cases, this is cool- but in other cases, the result is, well... I have a casserole dish that I stacked another piece across the top of- now it has 4 perpendicular glass daggers hanging off the lip. But I'm being dramatic- I'll just grind the sharp edges down and it will also make delicious cheesy things.
As we were packing up, and feeling good about ourselves, our teacher came around to ask if we were happy with out things came out. For me, I felt like this was one of my best yet- I didn't make much that I wasn't really happy with, and nothing really got ruined- so I felt like I had a good haul. And then he asked me what I was going to do when I moved away- how would I get by without the studio time? I was taken aback. I actually really worry about finding another studio that is as supportive and open as the Union Project. I can't imagine any private artist wanting to open their doors to me, or other wood kiln people wanting to make space for my lumpy pots. Hopefully there will be spaces for that in the future, but throwing pots has been one of my favorite new things to do since I came to graduate school, and I hope it isn't just a passing phase. My teacher said he wasn't sure if there were places like this in other cities, but he was pretty sure I was capable enough to help out with another wood kiln somewhere else. That was a relief. But I am still in denial about whether that may have been final trip to the kiln, or my final class at the UP.
The casseroles are pretty cool- I'm not sure why it took such a long time to decide to make these shapes (perhaps because lots of my earlier stuff leaked, but I think we solved that), but I am really happy with them. Now I wish I'd thought more about making standard sizes- but really I just want to bake something cheesy in them.
Later in the class I started throwing taller shapes- so lots of tall (ish) skinny (ish) vases. Awesome! The kiln was REALLY full, so by the time we arrived late Friday, we were making major efforts to stack things. Having shells (from Alaska!) meant we could stack pieces together and break them apart later, because the shell degrades into a salty skeleton of it's former self. Although- it turns out the the blue mussel shells vitrify, rather than disolve. In some cases, this is cool- but in other cases, the result is, well... I have a casserole dish that I stacked another piece across the top of- now it has 4 perpendicular glass daggers hanging off the lip. But I'm being dramatic- I'll just grind the sharp edges down and it will also make delicious cheesy things.
As we were packing up, and feeling good about ourselves, our teacher came around to ask if we were happy with out things came out. For me, I felt like this was one of my best yet- I didn't make much that I wasn't really happy with, and nothing really got ruined- so I felt like I had a good haul. And then he asked me what I was going to do when I moved away- how would I get by without the studio time? I was taken aback. I actually really worry about finding another studio that is as supportive and open as the Union Project. I can't imagine any private artist wanting to open their doors to me, or other wood kiln people wanting to make space for my lumpy pots. Hopefully there will be spaces for that in the future, but throwing pots has been one of my favorite new things to do since I came to graduate school, and I hope it isn't just a passing phase. My teacher said he wasn't sure if there were places like this in other cities, but he was pretty sure I was capable enough to help out with another wood kiln somewhere else. That was a relief. But I am still in denial about whether that may have been final trip to the kiln, or my final class at the UP.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Career Fair- Day One
Forgive me if I come off as niave or closed-minded, but I made up my mind to go to the career fair because you should. Not because I thought there would be a wealth of information, that I would meet some interesting people or get to imagine my future in a bunch of different and exciting ways, or that I would be a viable candidate for any jobs. I decided to go because I figured I should try this kind of thing so when people ask me in 12 months why I am still unemployed I can honestly say I've tried everything there is to try, to get some practice talking to the types of people who are hiring and confront some rejection. This was not an especially optimistic outlook, which is certainly why I dragged one of my coworkers on this adventure with me. This is my Canadian friend, and we've career adventured together before (Hello, Toronto!). Although she isn't graduating for another year, she whipped up a resume and gamely came down there with me this morning.
We both had investigated the list of employers, and came up with a barely overlapping list. I am very interested in government service, regulation and the environment, and she is very interested in biofuels, energy technology and outreach. We printed off our resumes, edited them, re-printed them and giggled nervously all the way to the career fair. I was feeling anxiously optimistic, until we showed up. We were greeted by hoards of undergrads in classic black suits who were prepping themselves on the couches outside. Neither of us own black suits, and we are both wearing our nicest "seminar quality clothes," which in the context of employment, is actually nothing special. I have no idea what you would actually study up on before entering the fair, and that made me feel even LESS prepared. But there was no turning back. We got name tags, lists of presenters, a deep breath and entered the first room.
In the first room, booths with info and banners lined the room and filled it's center. The nervous suit people waited quietly in lines for a chance to join in the friendly recruiting banter. It was noisy and crowded, and I knew there is no way I'll be able to read a list and find anyone on the map (and I don't know who I am looking for anyway), so we traded Good Lucks, and I walked around the room to see who is there. To get my bearings, I introduced myself to some people that no one was talking to- they were friendly enough, and even though their field sometimes requires biologists, they did not want my resume or even my email address. Ouch. There were a lot of engineering, contracting type people around, all of whom were glad to send me away immediately, I got to thinking this was going to suck, a lot actually. I walked past one booth that had a flier for "internships for grads and undergrads" but the person there couldn't answer my questions. Arg.
But I ran across one of the employers I had Googled just before we walked over, and they were very friendly, really happy that I knew what they did and happy to talk up the training opportunities there (again, I am not the ideal candidate, but I believe I would be a perfect fit after 6mo on the job). I left them my resume, which they made some notes on while I collected their cards. Ok, this is not so bad. And back at the "internships..." booth, I met the hiring manager for a major bio remediation firm. I was pretty honest, I've never considered working in bioremediation now, but it sounds like something I would enjoy at lot, and it's important to me to find work that agrees with my values. She was really nice, and I traded my resume for her business card (she put notes on it, too).
I met some guys at a software company that just likes to hire smart people to do good work (yeah! I could do that), and told the air force recruiter that after spending 10 years working towards this specialty, I wasn't especially interested in complete retraining. I talked to a guy at PA Civil Service who recommended I take the Civil Service exam to be placed with employment in the State, and learned about some other training opportunity at the National Energy Labs. I got tacit disinterest from several other places, but the two employers I am most interested in impressing weren't even there today.
It was actually kind of fun, learning about different places people work, imagining myself in different fields, trying to show off my interpersonal skills. And it helps to have to articulate yourself to someone who might offer you a job. I felt almost silly for being so nervous before I got there. Then, back at work, my friend and I got to field all the questions from our coworkers about who was there, what do you say to them, what happens then, and then? And I realized again that it is tragically common in my field to make career choices based on the slimmest of information. So yes, I am still shopping around for a calling, and hopefully applying to a lot of jobs soon. I've contacted the bioremediation people already to ask about specific jobs, and tomorrow, we are going back to impress some more people. Wish me luck!
And while I was feeling so awesome about acting like an independent professional all day, one of my co-workers asked if I would consider being the female vocalist for his 80's power ballad cover band. (I said I had other plans for Valentine's, but maybe later... Don't wait up for the perm).
My life is pretty awesome.
We both had investigated the list of employers, and came up with a barely overlapping list. I am very interested in government service, regulation and the environment, and she is very interested in biofuels, energy technology and outreach. We printed off our resumes, edited them, re-printed them and giggled nervously all the way to the career fair. I was feeling anxiously optimistic, until we showed up. We were greeted by hoards of undergrads in classic black suits who were prepping themselves on the couches outside. Neither of us own black suits, and we are both wearing our nicest "seminar quality clothes," which in the context of employment, is actually nothing special. I have no idea what you would actually study up on before entering the fair, and that made me feel even LESS prepared. But there was no turning back. We got name tags, lists of presenters, a deep breath and entered the first room.
In the first room, booths with info and banners lined the room and filled it's center. The nervous suit people waited quietly in lines for a chance to join in the friendly recruiting banter. It was noisy and crowded, and I knew there is no way I'll be able to read a list and find anyone on the map (and I don't know who I am looking for anyway), so we traded Good Lucks, and I walked around the room to see who is there. To get my bearings, I introduced myself to some people that no one was talking to- they were friendly enough, and even though their field sometimes requires biologists, they did not want my resume or even my email address. Ouch. There were a lot of engineering, contracting type people around, all of whom were glad to send me away immediately, I got to thinking this was going to suck, a lot actually. I walked past one booth that had a flier for "internships for grads and undergrads" but the person there couldn't answer my questions. Arg.
But I ran across one of the employers I had Googled just before we walked over, and they were very friendly, really happy that I knew what they did and happy to talk up the training opportunities there (again, I am not the ideal candidate, but I believe I would be a perfect fit after 6mo on the job). I left them my resume, which they made some notes on while I collected their cards. Ok, this is not so bad. And back at the "internships..." booth, I met the hiring manager for a major bio remediation firm. I was pretty honest, I've never considered working in bioremediation now, but it sounds like something I would enjoy at lot, and it's important to me to find work that agrees with my values. She was really nice, and I traded my resume for her business card (she put notes on it, too).
I met some guys at a software company that just likes to hire smart people to do good work (yeah! I could do that), and told the air force recruiter that after spending 10 years working towards this specialty, I wasn't especially interested in complete retraining. I talked to a guy at PA Civil Service who recommended I take the Civil Service exam to be placed with employment in the State, and learned about some other training opportunity at the National Energy Labs. I got tacit disinterest from several other places, but the two employers I am most interested in impressing weren't even there today.
It was actually kind of fun, learning about different places people work, imagining myself in different fields, trying to show off my interpersonal skills. And it helps to have to articulate yourself to someone who might offer you a job. I felt almost silly for being so nervous before I got there. Then, back at work, my friend and I got to field all the questions from our coworkers about who was there, what do you say to them, what happens then, and then? And I realized again that it is tragically common in my field to make career choices based on the slimmest of information. So yes, I am still shopping around for a calling, and hopefully applying to a lot of jobs soon. I've contacted the bioremediation people already to ask about specific jobs, and tomorrow, we are going back to impress some more people. Wish me luck!
And while I was feeling so awesome about acting like an independent professional all day, one of my co-workers asked if I would consider being the female vocalist for his 80's power ballad cover band. (I said I had other plans for Valentine's, but maybe later... Don't wait up for the perm).
My life is pretty awesome.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Ambrosias are the best, Braeburns are the worst
Matt and I had a visitor this weekend! Half of our favorite couple came between weeks of training to relax and catch up. Turns out her new job is pretty cool, although it is hard to say if she will really like it, because, well- she hasn't been at the office for more than a couple days. They've sent her to NY for training. Anyhow, it is cool to think I know people who can leverage their hard work and experience into valuable and rewarding employment, which gives me a feeling of hope.
We got to spend the weekend catching up and doing fun things. We fought the crowds of Steelers Fans in the Strip District to buy some Steelers stuff (big game coming up, y'know), and farm fresh apples, and sample the wares at the public market. We went ice skating at the outdoor rink downtown- I'm not awesome, but I didn't fall down. And we went out to a favorite bar that recently got a serious upgrade to meet a bunch of her old work buddies. We've liked this place since before, it is spacious, seems to attract and older, mellow crowd who tend to idly watch whatever sporting event is on and drink boutique beers and eat really good wings. Now the beer selection got crazy huge, so we were happy to hang out there.
We even got to have breakfast at our favorite place for pre-exam breakfasts, Pamela's. I've got a lot of affection for those giant greasy pancakes, and it's sentimental to share them with my study buddy. A good weekend was had by all, and we were terrible sad that it's over.
We eventually had to take her back to the airport, (why?? It was just like old times again!) and Matt and I stopped at the new BIG grocery store that is out in the urban sprawl. I'd heard this place was pretty epic, but it never seemed like a good idea to drive out of town for groceries, but since we were there anyway... well, dang, but this place is big. And it definitely gives the Austin Whole Foods a run for it's money, at least is terms of volume and diverse offerings, if not for organic quality. There is a charcuterie, a cheese-monger, an amazing collection of 'eat in foods' that include a creperie and a pizzeria. We indulged in some small cuts of rare and interesting cheeses, and also decided to test the array of apples. Matt has been eating a lot of apples lately, and he doesn't actually know what kind he likes. In recent years, I realized that Red Delicious is the worst kind of misnomer, and vowed to avoid them, but otherwise I can't remember what kind I like. Matt picked 8 kinda of apples to sample, and we made notes. Because we are dorks. The highlights: the Ambrosia and Jazz were our favorites, but the more common Honeycrisp and Fuji placed well. Braeburn and Cortland were both incredibly disappointing, and not yummy with Peanut Butter. I'm sure we'll have tasting notes on the cheeses soon too.
We got to spend the weekend catching up and doing fun things. We fought the crowds of Steelers Fans in the Strip District to buy some Steelers stuff (big game coming up, y'know), and farm fresh apples, and sample the wares at the public market. We went ice skating at the outdoor rink downtown- I'm not awesome, but I didn't fall down. And we went out to a favorite bar that recently got a serious upgrade to meet a bunch of her old work buddies. We've liked this place since before, it is spacious, seems to attract and older, mellow crowd who tend to idly watch whatever sporting event is on and drink boutique beers and eat really good wings. Now the beer selection got crazy huge, so we were happy to hang out there.
We even got to have breakfast at our favorite place for pre-exam breakfasts, Pamela's. I've got a lot of affection for those giant greasy pancakes, and it's sentimental to share them with my study buddy. A good weekend was had by all, and we were terrible sad that it's over.
We eventually had to take her back to the airport, (why?? It was just like old times again!) and Matt and I stopped at the new BIG grocery store that is out in the urban sprawl. I'd heard this place was pretty epic, but it never seemed like a good idea to drive out of town for groceries, but since we were there anyway... well, dang, but this place is big. And it definitely gives the Austin Whole Foods a run for it's money, at least is terms of volume and diverse offerings, if not for organic quality. There is a charcuterie, a cheese-monger, an amazing collection of 'eat in foods' that include a creperie and a pizzeria. We indulged in some small cuts of rare and interesting cheeses, and also decided to test the array of apples. Matt has been eating a lot of apples lately, and he doesn't actually know what kind he likes. In recent years, I realized that Red Delicious is the worst kind of misnomer, and vowed to avoid them, but otherwise I can't remember what kind I like. Matt picked 8 kinda of apples to sample, and we made notes. Because we are dorks. The highlights: the Ambrosia and Jazz were our favorites, but the more common Honeycrisp and Fuji placed well. Braeburn and Cortland were both incredibly disappointing, and not yummy with Peanut Butter. I'm sure we'll have tasting notes on the cheeses soon too.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Detroit Autoshow
Fact: I need better hobbies.
Remember a few posts ago when I said I tend to get restless if I have too much free time? And that I'm gonna graduate, and hopefully move back West? It makes a person think about the things we'd been meaning to do, and a bit irrational about pulling them off.
We decided we may as well just nip off to Detroit to the autoshow, since it might not be so easy in the future. Ah, my glamorous lifestyle...
Here are pictures of some of the highlights- editing for ones that actually include us. There are lots of cars behind velvet ropes or with strangers sitti
ng in them.
This is beyond the biggest autoshow I've ever been to, all the major manufacturers and some minor ones were there, showing their current models and some concept cars for the future. The majority of the concepts are electric vehicles- usually the brand's smallest car with an EV sticker on the back. That's what the future holds.
There were also displays of engine components and other gearhead
stuff that Matt totally loved. There were also tons of people lapping it up- sitting in expensive luxery cars and collecting swag bags from vendors.
We walked around downtown a little, and enjoyed a brewpub while watching the Steelers game. And then we went to see the Green Hornet- we saw the car at the autoshow. Fun!
The next day we decided to take in the Henry Ford Museum, which is a beautiful old building, full of cars. It's and interesting way to tell the story of America. Antique bicycles developed into motorcycles which when hybridized with the old fashioned carriage gave us automobiles. The National park system is demarcated in history by the development of the RV. The industrial
revolution brought us more powerful generators, that powered the factories we used to build the cars. They have presidential limousines (and a presidential carriage!), Rosa Parks' bus and an Oscar Meyer Wiener mobile. It was a really interesting museum, and there is a lot more to do on their campus. I would have liked to spend more time there, but we had a 5 hour drive ahead of us...
Remember a few posts ago when I said I tend to get restless if I have too much free time? And that I'm gonna graduate, and hopefully move back West? It makes a person think about the things we'd been meaning to do, and a bit irrational about pulling them off.
We decided we may as well just nip off to Detroit to the autoshow, since it might not be so easy in the future. Ah, my glamorous lifestyle...
Here are pictures of some of the highlights- editing for ones that actually include us. There are lots of cars behind velvet ropes or with strangers sitti
ng in them.This is beyond the biggest autoshow I've ever been to, all the major manufacturers and some minor ones were there, showing their current models and some concept cars for the future. The majority of the concepts are electric vehicles- usually the brand's smallest car with an EV sticker on the back. That's what the future holds.
There were also displays of engine components and other gearhead
stuff that Matt totally loved. There were also tons of people lapping it up- sitting in expensive luxery cars and collecting swag bags from vendors.We walked around downtown a little, and enjoyed a brewpub while watching the Steelers game. And then we went to see the Green Hornet- we saw the car at the autoshow. Fun!
The next day we decided to take in the Henry Ford Museum, which is a beautiful old building, full of cars. It's and interesting way to tell the story of America. Antique bicycles developed into motorcycles which when hybridized with the old fashioned carriage gave us automobiles. The National park system is demarcated in history by the development of the RV. The industrial
revolution brought us more powerful generators, that powered the factories we used to build the cars. They have presidential limousines (and a presidential carriage!), Rosa Parks' bus and an Oscar Meyer Wiener mobile. It was a really interesting museum, and there is a lot more to do on their campus. I would have liked to spend more time there, but we had a 5 hour drive ahead of us...
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