News from the Jesta Menace Fan Club

Could there possibly be a better way to spend a Sunday night than watching your sister-in-law school a girl in a roller skating pillow fight? The answer is obviously no, especially not if you are capping off a pretty mellow weekend otherwise. We went to a BBQ, we took a walk in the park, we slept a lot. Catching a roller derby webcast is a great way to wrap it up. Still not sure what illegal engagement actually means, but the Penalty Pillow Fight really got the crowd lit up, especially since Jesta Menace COMPLETELY DOMINATED. Shame that the Holler Rollers lost the bout, but our favorite skater was called out as an up and coming young defender.

Maybe my favorite bit though was when we saw the back of Noel's head leaning on the rail at the end of the game. Looks like a pretty fantastic spectator sport- I'll have to work on getting to a game in person, but the webcast was a good runner-up.

Sleeping off the Sunburn

Yesterday a bunch of us played hookey from work and went out tubing, again.  We did this last year and had a pretty great time.  The theory is that you rent a few tubes and float slowly down one of the rivers, usually keeping a cooler of beer in one of your tubes.  

We decided to try something a little different, we brought a keg.  Not a full one, mind, a pony keg, only 5 gallons, and there were 14 of us on the river.  Jess and I brought some food, too.  I was proud of myself for bringing some individually-wrapped little snack cake things.  They float!  :)

We went down once and it only took us about 2.5 hours, and since we weren't quite done for the day, we went back and did it again.  It was alternately relaxing and exciting, as there are a couple of places where the river gets funneled down a pretty exciting chute at relatively high speeds.  One of our cargo-tubes ended up flipping, and we discovered that our cooler floats.  Neat.  :)

I managed to keep myself unburnt by reapplying 30 to 50 spf sunscreen on myself with almost ocd-like intensity.  I escaped unscathed, but Jess got some pretty bad sun-scorches on her knees and shins.  She's napping next to me now, and is already healing up, but the drive home was no fun at all.  We do have some good aloe beach-burn stuff, though, and we layered that on for some pretty impressive relief.  We also put on some white wine vinegar, which is supposed to help out.  Anyone else ever heard of that?

Later today, we may go try and buy a car.  Wish us luck!

Oh, and THANKS to everyone who has offered feedback on my book.  I know everyone's being extra nice, but it does feel good to know that people like it.  It also feels good to have that second draft finally done.  

With love,

-N

Personality testing

Our next women's discussion group is going to talk about how to find a career that suits your personality. In preparation for this, some of us have been taking online Meyers-Briggs and other tests to see if there are any early clues. I was initially disheartened to see THREE SEPARATE SITES recommend that for someone of my particular bent, a career as a University Professor might be apt. Unbelievable! My first impulse was to can the whole idea, except that the descriptions actually fit quite well. You have no desire to lead or follow, you like theoretical ideas and to leave the details to other, you appear absent-minded to others, cannot tolerate monotony... I suppose this explains something about the professors here, as well.

For reference, I am INTP (and introverted nerd-type person like Albert Einstein, Charles Darwin, or Thomas Jefferson- they call it The Architect). They say that this is quite rare, but one of our post-docs is too. It has been interesting to see how my coworkers scored. My most disenfranchised colleague scored so sensitive and empathetic she was recommended a career in art. Matt is described as the Craftsman (like Bruce Lee), he has a penchant for the technical and for adventure. So far no huge insights on what we do with this information, but I did have a crazy idea this afternoon that I am marinating just because the internet told me I like change and novelty.

Ceramics AND San Fransisco

We spent the weekend in the San Fransisco bay area visiting Matt's folks. THIS WAS AWESOME! We spent a day wine tasting in the Napa Valley- including Champagne tasting at the Mumm winery, because we are glamorous people. Then we spent two days on the world renouned M/V Delphini, the Seguin's charming yacht. We left from home port heading towards San Fransisco, where we pulled up to the pier to jump out and grab a few extra things for our sea side picninc and we headed to the Belvadere for the night- the pictures of sprawling cliffside mansions are from here. In the morning we headed out the gate- the Golden Gate that is. On the way out we saw harbor seals and jillions of dolphins! We took in the open seas before heading in to Sausalito, too charming for words! At the end of the night we bunked the boat at in Benecia and took in three different cities worth of fireworks. Beautiful.

It was really fun to hang around with Matt's Dad and step-Mom. We haven't spent much time with them, and it is very revealing to see someone I thought I knew so well with his family. I knew that Matt would love to see the boat guts and hear about all the work done to keep up the boat, but it was fun to see him jump out onto the peir to tie knots, and hear stories from when he was a kid. It was a great trip, lovely company, incredible hospitality and a well needed break for both of us. I've posted an album of photos, even once I trimmed down to shots where the people look good, the scenery is fantastic and the composition isn't appalling (yes, a work in progress) there are a LOT of pictures, of things like the OUTSIDE of the Golden gate bridge and views of the city from various vantages.

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in other news-My Summer ceramics class is over. I was prolific! and made several things I am pretty pleased with. I tried some new things- hand building, and building hands. I also made several vases that may be more functional previous iterations, and I like the colors quite a lot. Again, if anything so much as strikes your fancy, let me know because, as is apparent from the photos, we now have ceramics on every surface in our home. And apparently Matt wanted space for some of his stuff too... Check it out

BOOK

Finally done! I made myself stop playing video games and have been writing instead. The fruits of my sacrifice have been plucked for you now. I've finished my second draft of my novel! Hurrah!

Theoretically, if you're reading this, it should already be in your e-mail inbox. Give it a read and let me know what you think. Now I get to go back to playing video games and *planning out my audio studio mua ha ha haaaaaa*.

-N

Remodel a closet.....

We have been evolving the arrangements of our bedroom/bathroom areas downstairs. Sandlin and Matt saw the evolution of the old hot-tub to a nice bathroom. Now the original bath and closet for the back bedroom have changed to a master closet. We are planning to convert what is now our old bath/closet/office to a way better master bath but that remains to be seen and budgeted. The back bedroom now has a modest closet under the stairs but without the slamming doors in its entryway. Check the evolution in the photos below:

Letters of Support

In preparing to submit my portfolio for the teaching award next week, I went to collect the letters of support my students wrote for me after the semester was over. Wow. Prepare your grains of salt, folks, but these letters are unbearably flattering.

Best TA I ever had at Pitt.

Without Sandlin my experience would have been miserable.

Sandlin was an integral aspect in my Molecular Genetics education.

And that is just the stuff that isn't too braggy to re-type. Our class was really tough, and I wouldn't have been surprised if most students never wanted to think about it again. I was really flattered that they would take the time to write me letters of support, and slightly embarrassed by how effusive they are.