Monday, December 14, 2009
Dentistry
After an embarrassingly long hiatus due to the fact that I haven't had a full-time job (aside from student, which does not come with good benefits) since 2000, I have re-entered the world of regular dental care. My new job does come with dental insurance, so I set off for the dentist a few weeks ago. My dentist is awesome and I told them how embarrassed I was about the long gap in my dental care and they were so understanding and not naggy and kind. I got x-rays taken and was shown alarming pictures of my wisdom teeth. My wisdom teeth are alarming, as there is room for them, but apparently not enough room to brush them super well, so they are getting yanked. But other than the wisdom teeth, I did not have a single cavity in the rest of my mouth. Right on, genetics! Thanks, Mom and Dad! I went back for a real cleaning today and am enjoying the very clean teeth. And I am going to the oral surgeon Friday, where I will be knocked out and have the offending wisdom teeth pulled while I sleep. R thinks my wisdom might go with them, but I am sure I have absorbed all the wisdom they have to offer by now.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Writing Well Challenge: Character
As I am more and more convinced that more writing=better writing, and while most of the writing I do is comparatively dry as it is academic, there is no reason for it to be crappy. To that end, and because I like programs and systems and because I keep forgetting to blog, I am doing the Writing Well Challenge. Here is week 1, which is about character.
As I approached the coffee shop I was worried, it was finals week, and cold out, and there might not be spare seats. I did find one, although it was right by the door. As I struggled through the old, discarded library book (bought cheap from Half.com!) on learning and instinct in animals, I kept looking at a woman right in front of me. I couldn't help it, she was in my staring-off-into-space line of sight. She was all in black, with dark curly long hair and a bubble gum pink pashmina. Somehow, in the dim coffee shop and her black clothes the pashmina glowed, drawing everyone's attention. She was working hard on her computer, drinking cups of coffee, ordering soup after she determined it was dairy free. She seemed like a normal grad student, typing a paper, like all the rest of us there that day. Later, though, I realized she was entering numbers from tiny slips of paper into a spread sheet. Number after number, from many tiny sometimes crumpled pieces of paper. A mathematician? A spy breaking a code? Just doing her taxes? Finally she left, wrapping the bright pink more closely around her as she went out into the gray and rainy day.
Here are some others who have completed this same challenge:
As I approached the coffee shop I was worried, it was finals week, and cold out, and there might not be spare seats. I did find one, although it was right by the door. As I struggled through the old, discarded library book (bought cheap from Half.com!) on learning and instinct in animals, I kept looking at a woman right in front of me. I couldn't help it, she was in my staring-off-into-space line of sight. She was all in black, with dark curly long hair and a bubble gum pink pashmina. Somehow, in the dim coffee shop and her black clothes the pashmina glowed, drawing everyone's attention. She was working hard on her computer, drinking cups of coffee, ordering soup after she determined it was dairy free. She seemed like a normal grad student, typing a paper, like all the rest of us there that day. Later, though, I realized she was entering numbers from tiny slips of paper into a spread sheet. Number after number, from many tiny sometimes crumpled pieces of paper. A mathematician? A spy breaking a code? Just doing her taxes? Finally she left, wrapping the bright pink more closely around her as she went out into the gray and rainy day.
Here are some others who have completed this same challenge:
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Long weekend
Happy Thanksgiving to the people who celebrate it! Hope you all had a good one. I had a great day. My whole family gathered at my youngest brother's. He is only an hour away from us, so we could sleep in, go have Thanksgiving with everyone, and then come back home and sleep in our own bed. I got to see the new niece again as well, and she is funner than ever, with added new skills of smiling and making little babbling noises. Also she has a very cute yawn.
We ate and ate and then played some Trivial Pursuit (the women beat the men) and some Wii bowling (which my mom loves). It was all very good times. Just don't ask about any dance offs. :)
We ate and ate and then played some Trivial Pursuit (the women beat the men) and some Wii bowling (which my mom loves). It was all very good times. Just don't ask about any dance offs. :)
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Friday, November 20, 2009
Further adventures
I am glad I am recording all the adventures I have been having, as sometimes I feel like I am boring, but then it turns out I am not!
So additional adventures:
1) Some friends and I went to see Margaret Atwood in a dramatic reading of her new book, "The Year of the Flood". I was intrigued, because I loooooove Margaret Atwood, but also mildly concerned, as I thought a dramatic reading with songs written based on the book could also just be weird. It was totally awesome though. Margaret Atwood looked like she was having so much fun and the readers and singers were great. Also, it is a brilliant idea for a book tour as they read up to like the climax of the book and then did not tell you the end! So now I have to buy the book! Which I did, and am waiting for Amazon to get it to me. Barbara Kingsolver also benefited from this dramatic reading as Amazon told me she had a new book as well, and as I love her nearly as much as Margaret Atwood I bought that book too. I barely ever buy fiction books. My last book purchase was Seasonality in Primates. I know you guys don't want to miss out on that one.
2)The same weekend as Margaret Atwood, R was out of town so I took advantage of his absence to have a Naked Lady Party. Don't be scared to click on the link -- it is a clothes exchange. I had some friends over and cooked up a tasty strata (I left out the ham and subbed kale for the zucchini) and served mimosas and we had a fun time exchanging all our old clothes. I still need to take the unclaimed clothes to Goodwill though.
This weekend, we are going to a play! ooh! Fancy!
So additional adventures:
1) Some friends and I went to see Margaret Atwood in a dramatic reading of her new book, "The Year of the Flood". I was intrigued, because I loooooove Margaret Atwood, but also mildly concerned, as I thought a dramatic reading with songs written based on the book could also just be weird. It was totally awesome though. Margaret Atwood looked like she was having so much fun and the readers and singers were great. Also, it is a brilliant idea for a book tour as they read up to like the climax of the book and then did not tell you the end! So now I have to buy the book! Which I did, and am waiting for Amazon to get it to me. Barbara Kingsolver also benefited from this dramatic reading as Amazon told me she had a new book as well, and as I love her nearly as much as Margaret Atwood I bought that book too. I barely ever buy fiction books. My last book purchase was Seasonality in Primates. I know you guys don't want to miss out on that one.
2)The same weekend as Margaret Atwood, R was out of town so I took advantage of his absence to have a Naked Lady Party. Don't be scared to click on the link -- it is a clothes exchange. I had some friends over and cooked up a tasty strata (I left out the ham and subbed kale for the zucchini) and served mimosas and we had a fun time exchanging all our old clothes. I still need to take the unclaimed clothes to Goodwill though.
This weekend, we are going to a play! ooh! Fancy!
Saturday, November 07, 2009
Adventures of late
Here are some of my recent adventures.
A while ago R and I went to see Chuchito Valdes, a Cuban jazz pianist. So good. I highly recommend seeing him live if you can. He is crazy with his fast moving and hands and jumping up from the bench a lot. So much energy!
The leaves began to change, and there were many many yellow ones. I did not take any pictures, but here is one from frozenchipmunk on Flickr.
I went to a two day Darwin conference which was super cool and inspiring and like a rock concert for evolution nerds. It happened to fall on Halloween, so for a friend's party I dressed like Darwin.
A while ago R and I went to see Chuchito Valdes, a Cuban jazz pianist. So good. I highly recommend seeing him live if you can. He is crazy with his fast moving and hands and jumping up from the bench a lot. So much energy!
The leaves began to change, and there were many many yellow ones. I did not take any pictures, but here is one from frozenchipmunk on Flickr.
I went to a two day Darwin conference which was super cool and inspiring and like a rock concert for evolution nerds. It happened to fall on Halloween, so for a friend's party I dressed like Darwin.
Laaaaazy
People, I should get an award for the amount I have accomplished in my life thus far, despite the fact that I suffer from a sever case of lazy. Seriously. I am really lazy. You may not believe it, as I am so accomplished, but just imagine what I could do if I were not so lazy? I would be setting the world on fire.
I have not been blogging much due to the aforementioned lazy. I think of posts, but then I am just too lazy to write them. I means, signing on to Blogger is just too much work when I could more easily play Bejeweled Blitz on Facebook. I do manage to prep my classes, grade papers, and work on my dissertation, but cleaning the house? Nope. Defeated by the lazy. Also, I bought fabric and frames from IKEA to whip up some nice wall hangings for my office on campus, but how long have the materials sat here on my desk collecting dust? Quite a while, I tell you. And a friend of mine can tell you how long it took me to season the new wok I bought in Chinatown. I actually had to throw out the old wok and have an urgent need to stir-fry before I could off my lazy butt and season up that wok. I did manage to put up inspirational monkey pictures above my desk at home, a mere year after moving in. I count that and the fact that I got the wok seasoned in a matter of months as two small but important accomplishments. Sometimes, due to all the work I have to do despite the lazy, the lazy builds up and builds up until I give in. The last two days I have greatly enjoyed lying about and reading, and am still in my pjs at 2:00 pm.
I plan to emerge from this wallow in the lazy fresh and clean in order to tackle many Things That Must Be Done over the rest of the day. I am having people over for brunch tomorrow, so I am also counting on this deadline to help me clean the house. And important part of this morning has been spent contemplating the best direction in which to clean. What do you think? Start in the kitchen, followed by the dining room, bathroom, then living room (the bedroom is exempt from cleaning)? I am worried this plan will result in me running out of energy before the living room, which really needs the most cleaning. It contains my desk, and I have come to accept that I work best surrounded by alarming piles of paper and a fortress of books stacked on the floor. Seriously, I've been kicking it on the dissertation pretty well, and am surrounding by so much clutter in a perfect arms' width semi-circle. Also, I envision the party tomorrow taking place mostly in the living room, so perhaps I should start there.
Wish me luck that the lazy can be out run just for today.
I have not been blogging much due to the aforementioned lazy. I think of posts, but then I am just too lazy to write them. I means, signing on to Blogger is just too much work when I could more easily play Bejeweled Blitz on Facebook. I do manage to prep my classes, grade papers, and work on my dissertation, but cleaning the house? Nope. Defeated by the lazy. Also, I bought fabric and frames from IKEA to whip up some nice wall hangings for my office on campus, but how long have the materials sat here on my desk collecting dust? Quite a while, I tell you. And a friend of mine can tell you how long it took me to season the new wok I bought in Chinatown. I actually had to throw out the old wok and have an urgent need to stir-fry before I could off my lazy butt and season up that wok. I did manage to put up inspirational monkey pictures above my desk at home, a mere year after moving in. I count that and the fact that I got the wok seasoned in a matter of months as two small but important accomplishments. Sometimes, due to all the work I have to do despite the lazy, the lazy builds up and builds up until I give in. The last two days I have greatly enjoyed lying about and reading, and am still in my pjs at 2:00 pm.
I plan to emerge from this wallow in the lazy fresh and clean in order to tackle many Things That Must Be Done over the rest of the day. I am having people over for brunch tomorrow, so I am also counting on this deadline to help me clean the house. And important part of this morning has been spent contemplating the best direction in which to clean. What do you think? Start in the kitchen, followed by the dining room, bathroom, then living room (the bedroom is exempt from cleaning)? I am worried this plan will result in me running out of energy before the living room, which really needs the most cleaning. It contains my desk, and I have come to accept that I work best surrounded by alarming piles of paper and a fortress of books stacked on the floor. Seriously, I've been kicking it on the dissertation pretty well, and am surrounding by so much clutter in a perfect arms' width semi-circle. Also, I envision the party tomorrow taking place mostly in the living room, so perhaps I should start there.
Wish me luck that the lazy can be out run just for today.
Friday, October 16, 2009
Harvest time!
So it was getting dangerously close to frosty time and I was going away for the weekend. As head gardener, it was my job to decide if we should bring in the green tomatoes on our porch or not. I decided better safe than sorry, and picked them all. I also picked the basil and spent the Thursday before my trip making some pesto. The pictures show the lovely fruits of the garden.
It turns out that I don't think it has actually frosted here yet. We are close to the lake, and thus are temperatures are often 10 degrees off those inland. It has been cold and rainy, though, so I am going to believe the tomatoes would not have ripened anyway and that I made the right call.
We had a super tasty dinner the other night of the green tomatoes sauteed and mixed with angel hair pasta and the homemade pesto. Yum.
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