Alicia's Adventures in Ann Arbor

We are the 1980s / we are the Detroit lights

2012-02-04T18:48:00.001-05:00

One thing that I learned after moving to Michigan is that techno is a product of Detroit. Pretty effing neat. I feel I should link to the Detroit Electronic Music Festival (DEMF) at this point in time. Further, here's a UK tribute to techno with a metion of Detroit.

Sing song blue

2012-02-02T11:02:00.000-05:00

As I was belting out the song "Poison" in the shower today, I realized that I should make a playlist of all the songs that are in my head when I wake up... mostly because they are awesome (and random...)

Let's track this week so far:

Monday:

Tuesday:

Wednesday:

You're welcome.

Should I just keep chasing pavements, even if it leads nowhere?

2012-01-29T23:08:00.002-05:00

I'm quickly forgetting what it's like to have a life of any sort this semester. On top the usual -- dissertation research, coursework, helping with grants, and the occasional lab project for another professor -- I'm now a graduate student instructor for an intro epid course with 200 students in it. My weekdays seem to average about 12 hrs of work. And my weekends are getting up there too. I'm constantly exhausted and, somehow, constantly feel like I'm getting nothing done.

This weekend, I at least got the chance to run some errands in the middle of uploading and proofing lectures, working practice problems, and grading a gazillion homeworks. I worked all day yesterday and a good chunk of today. And, yahoo, I'm just right back in the mix of everything bright and early tomorrow morning.

This semester has made me realize more and more that I don't think I ever want to be a faculty member, as I think they might get less sleep than me. Maybe...

p.s. My dog is crazy. He just had a growling war with the couch while he was underneath it.

Recessive genes

2012-01-05T17:17:00.001-05:00

I somehow managed to never know my blood type until now, at 31 years old. I was at the doctor earlier this week and she suggested I get blood typed in case I want to reproduce at some point in time. Of course, most Americans (85%) are Rh positive, so it shouldn't be a big deal. But, in the case that I'm Rh negative and decide to have kids and Juggles is Rh positive, we could all implode with horrible cases of autoimmune stuff-n-things (or something) if we don't find out beforehand.

Turns out I'm A- blood type.

This means I'm Rh negative, along with a small percentage of the U.S. population.

And Juggles is A+, meaning he's a typical Rh positive American.

Of course, both my my parents are Rh positive. So, lucky me and my recessive genes! Now I'll have to get injections of fuzzmonkeys in order to stop the implosion of autoimmune stuff-n-things if/when I have babies.

Haley Bonar - Candy Machine Gun

2011-11-28T22:40:00.001-05:00

First off, if you haven't fallen in love with Midwestern girl, Haley Bonar, you need to change that instantly. She's adorable and creative and sweet. Every time she performs, she manages to reach out and touch everyone in the crowd, as if she's secretly pulling you each aside and sharing a moment, an inside joke.

Secondly, I love this song despite the fact that it's a little sad in its connotation. There's a sense of hopelessness, of neediness with a simultaneous acceptance of how it is.

We began where we began
Same old story with a different plan
Same old woman meets the same old man
And they knock each other out

It rained so hard as we drove across the state
You laughed at first but then your chemistry was strange
The light in your eyes fell away like loose change
And I tried to figure out who you were at all
Who you were at all

Oh, you were at all
Something of a garden, something of a martyr
I'm helpless in your hands
Oh yeah, my candy machine gun,
Lemonade-flavored poison
Don't turn away from me

Of all seven daughters he loved the youngest
Her long brown hair felt no shame in his caress
Don't be suspicious of my love it was no accident
He told her without name

I've become so defined by you I can't tell up from down
The nature of your beauty pulls my bones into the ground
I smile though I ache as though the wind has stole my crown
And it makes me laugh like Cain did

And you weren't at all
No, you weren't at all

Oh, you weren't at all
Something of a garden, something of a martyr
I'm so helpless in your hands
Oh yeah, my candy machine gun
Lemonade-flavored poison
Don't turn away from me

Go buy her latest album, Golder, right away and support independent artists!

When little plungey earned his keep

2011-11-07T23:40:00.000-05:00

I love going to the hardware store. The smell of all the plastic and metal and grease delights my nose and reminds me of my days as a young girl when my dad used to take me up to Mark Enderlein's hardware store on East Lake Street in Minneapolis whenever he needed a little piece for a little fix-it project. There was always crazy stuff there, whether it was getting a few feet of rope to use as a jump rope, or checking out all the different colors and sizes that chains came in and wondering what people did with all of those things. Oh yeah, and tools and stuff.

Juggles and I went to the hardware store the other day. We got a drain snake and some rubber washer-things for our hose pipe outside to keep it from dripping. Then we passed the plungers. Silly, yes, but I saw this little tiny plunger and just HAD to have it. J thought I was being silly, but I managed to convince him that we should buy it, just in case. It took a few minutes of debate over said $2.50 item, but, I mean, how can you not take that tiny rubber plunger home with you? It's no bigger than our small cat!

So we took it home. And, let me tell you, the baby plunger is adapting well to our place. He's already unclogged both the bathtub AND cleared the bathroom sink (which hasn't drained well the entire time we'ved lived here).

Little plungey has earned his keep. We've given him a home in our bathroom where he does his finest work.

2011-09-11T22:32:00.004-04:00

Also exciting, someone apparently has my credit card number and has been trying to spend hundreds of dollars in Illinois at Home Depot and some grocery stores. It's peace of mind to know that Visa has their fraud prevention services looking out for me so everything is DECLINED! Yikes.

We just wanna make the world dance / forget about the price tag

2011-09-11T20:42:00.001-04:00

The summer has been a whirlwind, as has been the last few years. So many great things happened in the last few months.

In June, we played at Gender Blender in lovely Fergus, ON and, despite having a more random group of teammates than we usually do, we had even more of a blast than usual. We camped in the rain, set up a live version of the popular smartphone game Angry Birds, enjoyed some flip cup and did crazy things all weekend. It was exhaustingly fun.

This year, Juggles and I started a mixed club ultimate team called Sidecar! which was very well-received by the community. We had 70-some people try out for our team, making decisions for 20-some roster spots very difficult. After we whittled the team down, we had a fairly successful season, taking 5th at Mars, 2nd at Motown Throwdown, 12th at CHC, and losing our regionals spot to Overhaul in a game we finished 15-11. The season had its ups and downs, but, all-in-all, I am so glad to have gotten to make friends with such a diverse set of people -- from U of M players to Detroiters, to other talented people we found lurking within our local league. It's been so fun to get to know everyone.

Juggles also spent a week in the Bahamas with his brother in July, while I played at Chicago Sandblast, then took a short course on statistical methods in genetic epidemiology. That sounds pretty lame, I know, but I'm a geek enough to appreciate this sort of things because it helps me think about my work a little differently.

Later in July, my friend Harrison happened to make a quick run through Detroit for a conference, so we got together and went to our first Tigers game. It was so great to catch up with him. He's someone I've known since the tender age of 11 or so, have always kept in touch with, and he's just turned out ... so awesomely! I'm glad we've stayed friends over the years, despite random distances between us and such.

This summer, also, a number of my close friends got married. Unfortunately, I couldn't make it back to Minnesota to celebrate with most of them (Adro and Carley, Da, Michelle) because it's an expensive plane ticket, but I am so thrilled for all of them. I did make it home for my best friend Lindsay's wedding in August -- probably a good thing since I was her maid of honor. And, honored I was! It was a tiring weekend, for sure, but filled with smiles and festivities. Juggles came along for the ride and did a great job helping me stay organized while I was running around Duluth. While we were in MN, I also got to introduce him to the Minnesota State Fair to eat a lot of fried foods, Sweet Martha's Cookies, and check out some mighty fine pigs and cows. Unfortunately, we didn't have a whole lot of time to see friends, but we did get some good eating in, at the very least, and a really great hike in Cherokee Park.Now the autumn has come. The last few days have been rainy, but our dahlias are still in full bloom keeping in a nice fiery view of summer sunshine

It's time to focus on things aside from just sports and friends, I suppose, but at least I'm afforded the luxury to take a break from my work on occasion and catch some frisbees on the beach. This fall has exciting things to offer -- papers to publish and women's ultimate to coach at Eastern Michigan. Now it's time to get it started!

2011-08-22T22:57:00.002-04:00

I'm not a girly-girl. I don't do my nails or paint my face every day. It's not that I'm not a "marriage" girl. I'm just not a "wedding" girl. I like weddings. They're pretty. The flowers and the traditions (most of which are lost now-a-days anyway) and all of that stuff. When it comes down to my own wedding day, I just am not spending more than we spent on the down-payment of our house for a dress and a party. Not my style. I don't want everyone looking at me anyway so seriously. That's so awkward. (For me at least... I'm not judging you if you do it differently. I know I'm not normal.)

This being said, I want to point out that I have a folder in my bookmarks called "My Wedding." Yes, this is the folder where one would search for most girls' fairy princess dresses and wedding cake styles or whatever.

Not me. There's one website in that folder. Just one. It's titled Can a Jell-O Shot Be Classy?. The answer, my friends, is yes. And you can look at their photos to see just how classy they can be. Because, my friends, what's a party without some jello shots?

Cucumber-lime margarita shots tied with cucumber ribbons

That is all I wanted to share. Oh, secondly, Beck's Midnight Vultures album is phenom.

Cake Batter Rice Krispie Treats

2011-08-16T14:37:00.004-04:00

Growing up, my mom trained me to become a choco-holic. Not that I will complain at all about my deep love for brownies, cakes, and other tasty treats, but I always went to the neighbors' houses to get simple desserts like rice krispie treats. Never in my life had I made them before yesterday when I embarked on a mission to fill Naomi's left-behind brownie pan with a tasty treat so I could finally return her cookware.

Cake Batter Rice Krispie Treats.

Ingredients:
3 Tbsp. butter
1 (10 oz.) bag of mini-marshmallows
1/4 cup yellow cake mix
6 cups crispy rice cereal
1 (1.75 oz.) container of sprinkles

Method:
Melt butter in a large saucepan over low heat and add marshmallows.
Stir until they begin to melt, adding in cake mix one spoonful at a time so its combined.
Stir in cereal so it is completely coated with marshmallow mixture.
Sprinkle in half of the sprinkles and mix.
Press into a baking dish (any size will do) and top with remaining sprinkles. Let sit for about 30 minutes before cutting.

I almost doubled the recipe on the website above because I wanted to taste-test them since I had never before made rice krispie treats.
My tips are as follows:

Use lots of cake batter. I used an entire cup for a double batch. It's very sweet, but very tasty.
When doubling the recipe, don't add in double the rice krispies. There's not enough marshmallows to go over them. I used about 8-9 cups of cereal instead of 12.
Add a little extra butter. Everyone loves butter.
Use lots and lots of sprinkles. Sprinkles = happiness.

A farewell to arms

2011-08-10T21:11:00.007-04:00

A tip for the day: look at the world with optimism and don't whine -- not only to keep your own spirits high, but so you post on your social sites your happy thoughts instead of your crappy thoughts. When you're dead and gone and the internet lives on and on, I think I'd like to be remembered as a pleasant, humorous individual, at least.

It's strange, really. Social sites. And death. I mean, the mix of the two of them. I say this as I wait for funeral arrangements to be posted by Nick Gidmark on his brother Ben's Facebook page. You see, my childhood friend, Ben -- the one who was so proud whenever his snake shed its skin, whom we made fun of for having a "secret kissing spot" behind the bushes of his house when he was a kid -- he died of a heart attack on Monday night, at home, alone. Some friends were waiting on him and were concerned when he didn't show. It's sad. He was a year older than myself.

Ben is one of those guys who had a way with people. He embroidered spirits together with sparkles. He never let anyone get too far away and, when he remembered that he had let you wander too far, he immediately reminded you that he was there and that he cared, and he'd pull your thread closer and weave you back into his fabric. I moved away from his neighborhood when I was still just a kid and didn't really talk to him for years. I'd hear stories of him because he hung out with a number of my friends, but I didn't see him again. Then there was Facebook and we'd send emails or write on each others' walls every so often just to catch up. We always said we'd get a beer sometime when I was home for a visit. And now his Facebook is a page of memories, a wall of graffiti, a quilt of stories of how he touched every single one of the 400 e-friends he has. And that's why you should always keep positive -- so the memory of you that's etched into this world wide web can be written down in history as silly or sweet instead of cold or querulous.

His last FB post was, "Today started off with Mega Shark Vs. Giant Octopus. All is well and nothing can be ill." And, really, I can't think of a better way to be e-membered. Or is it "iMembered?" I guess it depends if you are Mac or PC.

It's a strange day for me. I've been reminiscent of my childhood for the last 12 hours since I found out about it all because that's where my memories of Ben are woven. I want to think, "Oh, life is so precious," but I've never really thought that. My thoughts have always really bordered on how short and sweet life is. Because life just is... It's like a jar -- some people were handed huge jars and fill them with ugly things, or things that have little density, like soot-covered moth balls, I guess; some people just get small jars which they maybe chose to fill with richness and pack full with to the brim with things they cherish, things they love. We don't know how big of a jar we were dealt until we reach the top and overflow to the heavens. (That was maybe a silly analogy.) But, life just is until it's not. So, why not love until you can't? Why not share, build community, create moments that will far outlast your physical being? Why not?

". . . and throughout the career that will certainly and consistently remind you that we live in a world of too many pieces and not enough glue, I challenge you to be the arms that hold, to be the voice that soothes, and to be that contagious smile. . . " Ben Gidmark

With that, I'll leave you with a video of Ben's commencement address from which the previous quote was drawn, as it inspires and touches.

2011-08-01T12:00:00.003-04:00

Me: How'd you know what I was going to say?
Juggles: 'Cuz I can read you like an RSS feed.

Nice work.

gr8ness

2011-05-09T11:46:00.001-04:00

"You don't become great by trying to be great. You become great by wanting to do something, and then doing it so hard that you become great in the process."

& when the phone rang & I thought it was you & I sprung like a kid who just got out of school / but its almost, always never you

2011-04-06T00:12:00.004-04:00

I've recently discovered this artist, Lissie, thanks to my favorite radio station, The Current. I love to share music, so check her out. She kind of reminds me of a female Ryan Adams in some of her songs (i.e. "Record Collector"). She's kind of soulful, yet energetic.

Listen, love, like her on Facebook if you're so inclined. =P

Heavy cream biscuits

2011-04-06T00:00:00.004-04:00

In a previous post, I pondered what I should do with my extra cream from the panna cotta. Well, I started on Sunday morning with a delicious batch of cream biscuits.

Ingredients:

2 cups self-rising flour
OR
2 cups all purpose flour + 3 tsp baking powder + 1 tsp salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream

Directions:

Preheat oven to 500 degrees F.
Stir everything together until the dough forms a ball.
Turn the dough out onto a surface dusted with additional flour. Fold dough in 1/2 and knead a bunch. (Add flour as needed to keep dough from sticking to your hands.)
Roll out dough to 1/2-inch thickness. Or, if you're lazy like me, just knead it until you think it's about the right thickness.
Using ~~a 3-inch biscuit cutter coated with flour~~ a glass coated with flour or, if you're me, an appropriately-sized metal measuring cup coated in flour, cut dough into biscuits.
Place on baking sheet coated with cooking spray, leaving at least 1-inch between each biscuit.
Bake for 10 minutes, or until golden brown.

You got served!

Nom. So, my one error is that I think I may have added too much salt and baking powder. I'd cut that by about 25% next time and I'd also use WHEAT flour next time.

Chocolate Buttermilk Panna Cotta

2011-04-02T16:54:00.007-04:00

I couldn't find a recipe for chocolate buttermilk panna cotta, so I did my best to combine the chocolate recipe with the buttermilk recipe, and this is what I got:

Ingredients:

1 c + 2 tbsp heavy cream (I couldn't find heavy cream, so I used heavy whipping cream)
3 tbsp brown sugar
4 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
3 tbsp cold water
1 package powdered, flavorless gelatin (vegetarian, if you can find it!)
1-2/3 c buttermilk
1/8 tsp kosher salt

Coat 5 or 6 ramekins or similar cup-type item lightly with flavorless oil. (I used small bowls.)
Place water into a small bowl. Sprinkle gelatin over it. (Do not stir.) Let stand 5-6 minutes.
In a medium saucepan over medium heat: Bring cream and sugar to a boil (about 7 minutes).
Remove pan from heat. Add chocolate and whisk until smooth.

Add gelatin mixture to chocolate mixture until melted.
Stir in buttermilk and salt.
Ladle mixture into ramekins.
Refrigerate, loosely covered, until set. (About 2 hrs.)

To serve:
Run the tip of a small knife around the edge of the ramekins to loosen the panna cotta and unmold onto plates.
Or, if you're me, just serve them right from the bowls in which they set
Let stand until almost at room temperature (about 1 hr).
Garnish with berries if you have them!

Now what do I do with all this extra cream...?

Chocolate Buttermilk Chocolate Chip Cookies

2011-04-02T16:35:00.005-04:00

I bought buttermilk a bit ago to make Irish soda bread, which turned out pretty nicely. It had hints of nutmeg to spice it up a bit. Next time, I'd try some thyme and rosemary in it. Mmm...

Since, I've been trying to use the buttermilk up, so I've been making everything with it. Last weekend, I made delicious buttermilk pancakes last weekend, with a recipe claiming it's Al's Diner's recipe: http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/recs/510/Als_Diner_Buttermilk_Pancakes31323.shtml.

Then, I made buttermilk popovers the next day for breakfast. They didn't seem to want to pop over, so they ended up buttermilk biscuits, but they were still super tasty, and worked nicely with some raspberry preserves.

I made buttermilk French toast for breakfast this morning, where I just replaced most of the milk in the egg mixture with buttermilk and it was surprisingly delicious.

Then, today, I made very delicious chocolate-chip buttermilk cookies!

Recipe:

Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 eggs
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
For funsies, I added 1/3 c of Ghirardelli cocoa powder
chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375. Combine dry ingredients and set aside.
Cream together shortening and sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs, buttermilk and vanilla. Mix until combined. Add dry ingredients until blended. Stir in chips. Drop by teaspoons onto baking sheet.
Bake 8-10 minutes.

Pre-baking

DONE!

They are a really cake-y cookie -- soft and fluffy and chewy. So good.

Juggles says:
"These cookies are probably the most pretty cookies I've ever seen you make. They are totally decilicious. That's like a step above regular delicious"

H Two the Izzo

2011-03-24T14:36:00.003-04:00

It was World Water Day a couple of days ago, and thus we are all reminded of the importance of a substance that is part of just about everything on this planet. We here in the U.S. are pretty lucky to have mostly clean water. Sure, Ann Arbor has been known to have a little arsenic in its water, and the Gulf Coast had a massive oil leak that affected it. In other countries, it's the norm to have water supplies polluted by lead, arsenic, and other harmful metals.

Because of this reminder, I wanted to share the following article about how banana peels (and other natural foods) can actually clean heavy metals out of water better than some of the commercial products.

The article is here:
http://www.scidev.net/en/news/banana-peel-can-purify-water-say-scientists.html

And abstract:

This article reports on an investigation into the ability of minced banana peel to extract lead and copper ions from water and the parameters involved in this process. The kinetics of copper and lead uptake reached equilibrium in 10 min and the extraction of metals ions was favorable above pH 3. The medium was characterized by FTIR, which showed absorption bands of carboxylic and amine groups at 1730 and 889 cm1, respectively. The adsorption isotherm fitted by Langmuir’s model showed maximum adsorption capacities of 0.33 and 0.20 mmol g−1 (or 20.97 and 41.44 mg g−1) for Cu(II) and Pb(II), respectively. Minced banana peel was applied in the preconcentration system and showed approximately 20-fold enrichment factor and the column was reused for 11 cycles without loss in the percentage of recovery. The proposed method was applied in the determination of Cu(II) and Pb(II) in a sample of raw river water and was validated by comparison with a standard reference material.

Sour Cream Banana Bread

2011-01-23T22:35:00.008-05:00

I baked tonight. :)

Sour Cream Banana Bread
Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup mashed banana
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup sour cream

Directions:

Grease 1 large loaf pan.
Cream butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla.
Stir in baking soda and salt, then add flour.
Add bananas, sour cream, then chocolate chips.
Mix well.
Bake at 350 F for 1 hour
(I actually baked at 350 for an hour, then turned the oven to 325 and kept it in an extra 15 minutes or so because it was nice and dark around the edges, but the center wasn't quite done).

My conclusion: yum-tastic. It doesn't have as much of a sour cream taste as I was hoping, but it's still lightens the taste of the banana bread and makes it not quite as heavy as most traditional banana breads.

In the colors

2011-01-02T19:46:00.002-05:00

I've heard this song about a gazillion times previously, but today the lyrics really hit me. I think part of it is that it's the end of a whole long year, with a new one setting sail slowly through the winter. Most people had pretty average years, but I know some amazing friends who had a rough year for some pretty big reasons. This song is my dedication to you guys -- sometimes there's not always something easy to say to make the bad go away, and sometimes that hurt lingers for a long time, but no matter what, whenever you're feeling down and out, I will be there in whatever ways I can be.

When your whole world is shaken from all the risks we have taken
Dance with me, dance with me into the colors of the dusk

When you have awoken from all the dreams broken
Come and dance with me, dance with me into the colors of the dusk
Dance with me in the colors of the dusk

The paths we're walking on, they crumble behind us
But if we leave now, they will never find us
And if this crazy world spins itself down to dust, I want to be with you in the colors

When you again start hoping with your arms wide open
Come on, dance with me, dance with me into the colors of the dusk
And all will be right, dancing like water with the light
Dance with me, won't you dance with me into the colors of the dusk?

Happy 2011, friends and family. I hope this year brings joy within every movement and every song.

Not gonna get you a diamond ring / That sorta gift don't mean anything. / Not gonna get you a fancy car / Girl, ya' gotta know you're my shining star

2010-12-30T12:32:00.005-05:00

A kitty's favorite part of Christmas is always the leftover boxes.

I had gotten Juggles some Sorel boots to keep his feet warm, and the box was sitting on the couch. Annabelle had made a home in it while we were watching some TV last night. This morning, I was messing around on my computer when I heard a rustling coming from the living room. I walked over to find that AB had knocked the box onto the floor and made a little fort from it. She even has a new kitty toy dragged inside of it.

Kitty in a box.

I don't want a lot for Christmas, there's just one thing I need / I don't care about the presents underneath the Christmas tree . . .

2010-12-22T09:18:00.016-05:00

The holiday season is a time of love, of compassion, of vibrant songs of mangers and trees. Because 'tis the season, I've decided to make a list of things I've learned to love since my arrival in Michigan.

Journey. Journey may not hail from the great state of Michigan, but they sure won Detroit's heart with their 1981 hit, "Don't Stop Believin'." Here's the cast of Glee performing the song:
Cherries. I never used to like cherries, mostly because of their pits. I guess I thought I was going to eat it and a cherry tree would grow in my tummy. You know, little kid things like that. But, I learned that I actually do love cherries. And Traverse City, Michigan is home of the National Cherry Festival, along with all of northwest Michigan being home to an abundance of cherries. Apparently Michigan grows 75% of the nation's tart cherries. Neat. There are cherry wines, vodkas, jams, etc. to be had here in Michigan. And it's fantastic!
Microbrews. Michigan has about a thousand-million-gazillion microbrews that are just amazing. Before I moved here, I actually didn't drink beer at all. A summer of club ultimate changed that, and now I'm a flip-cup master, and I've learned to appreciate some of the fine beers as well. Some of my favorites include:
- Jolly Pumpkin's Bam Bier, hailing from the nearby town of Dexter
- Bell's Oberon from K-zoo
- Dark Horse Raspberry Ale, out of Marshall, MI
- MBC's Screaming Pumpkin Spiced Ale, located near Lansing
There are a lot more great microbreweries around the state, which all put out some interesting and tasty beers.
Michigan Football. Well, the team hasn't exactly been great under RichRod. In fact, it's been sometimes painful to watch over the last few years. But the experience of being at The Big House with 100,000+ fans cheering wildly is absolutely incredible! Unless you went to undergrad at State or OSU, once you get to school here at the U of M, you learn quickly to be a fan of the maize and blue. The Twin Cities is a lot more about professional sports, but here in Ann Arbor, the fans are more likely to tune in on a Saturday than a Sunday to football. So, I don my Michigan gear and go out to a bar, friend's house, or even to the stadium, and I cheer for the home team.
Frisbee! Now, I've played frisbee for a long time, but I hadn't really played competitively except a year way back in college, until I got here to Michigan. I joined a club team the first summer I was here, and, since then, I've been filling my summers with tournaments and traveling and practices and frisbee friends. I've even become semi-active in helping to organize our local league here. Along with the love of the game, I've definitely fallen in love with my friends on teams and throughout league, as they've become a family to me.
Juggles. I save the best for last. My move to Michigan has made me love many things, but the one I love the most is my fantastic boyfriend, Juggles. We've had a few years of bliss together now, with many adventures including getting a kitty, vacations around the USA and Caribbean, buying a house, and even just making dinner together (it can be an adventure!). He's truly an amazing man who teaches me new things constantly and always puts a smile on my face. I love the life we've built, and the direction we're traveling together. And every day, I am thankful to have him as a best friend and partner.

Happy Holidays!

I get a little warm in my heart when I think of winter / I put my hand in my father's glove / I run off where the drifts get deeper

2010-12-12T23:21:00.003-05:00

This neighborhood is a wonderful place in which to live, and our house really feels like home now.

Last weekend, we finally hung up all of our artwork around the house. This makes everything so much warmer. We also installed a new light fixture in the kitchen and did some other random tasks that make the house more "ours." This prepared us to host our first party, a holiday potluck, which went exceptionally well.

I wish I had pictures of Melissa and I prepping our turkey, Kirby, for the feast. But, two and a half bottles of wine makes us far too silly and forgetful to remember things like photographic evidence of our awesomeness. Anyhow, we brined Kirby on Friday night, as well as made and iced a bunch of sugar cookies, and also spent plenty of time being silly. Saturday morning, we stuffed Kirby in the oven and waited.

Folks came over later in the afternoon, sharing tasty dishes such as Frances' ricotta torte, Dean's amazing jambalaya, and Brett's pumpkin-chocolate cheesecake. Many hours, and some nearly innumerate amount of calories later, and we called it a successful party.

Overnight, a few inches of snow fell, meaning we had to shovel the way out of the driveway (which took a trip to Home Depot in order to buy shovels). I made a snow angel to celebrate the first real snow of the year.

And then we met our neighbor, Dale. He's the real reason for this post (since I don't have silly pictures from our party).

We saw him from a distance -- brown jacket, his face entirely masked by cold-weather gear, and a shining bright red snow-blower. He began across the street and a few driveways down and slowly made his way closer and closer to us. As I shoveled, I wondered who this masked stranger was. Would he come rescue us from the peril of the cold? And, like a knight with shiny snowblower, he did. He came to introduce himself as we were maybe half-finished with the driveway and explained that he and one of the other neighbors just always took care of it.

Chivalry may be close to dead in my own generation, but, in his, it's alive and well, and it shows in the brotherhood of this neighborhood. Whether it's a couple of old guys taking the time to plow their neighbors out of their driveways, or the way people take the time to stop and talk to each other when they see a neighbor out doing yardwork, this neighborhood is filled with hearts of gold, willingness to lend a hand, and a real neighborly feeling.

Juggles and I really do love it here. Though this may not be our home forever, it's certainly a place we'll always design our ideals for our future around, and a place where we'll build and learn together.

Goodbye Ruby Tuesday, who could hang a name on you?

2010-11-10T23:12:00.002-05:00

Since I needed some documentation about a software program we're using, I decided to make an account with Illumina, Inc. in order to access certain areas of their website (i.e. product downloads, weeee). All was going fine and dandy until I had to do the security validation part...

What is that second word? Is it someone clawing at a wall in a horror film? Is it some sort of ancient script I've never seen? Is it merely a bunch of i's and l's?

What's worse is that I clicked on the audio button to try the security validation that way and it gave me the instructions to type out the words I heard spoken. Then it proceeded to have about 4 people mumbling at the same time with no actual words audible!

Worst security validation system ever! I finally reloaded the text one and got some real words, but, srsly!

Stormy weather, just can't get my poor old self together

2010-11-10T09:58:00.004-05:00

It seems I haven't lived in Ann Arbor long enough to remember its seasonal intricacies when they arise. Late autumn is really foggy. Almost every day there is some sort of visibility warning. Of course, this dismal fogginess is quite eerie and beautiful in the morning, but it leads to a long, dark winter where the sun doesn't show its face frequently enough and the whole world is dreary and sad.

The other morning was the beginning. I awoke to look out on a blanket of white through the three dimensional space of my backyard. Without my glasses on, I proclaimed, "Juggles, it's snowing!" He laughed and said it was just fog. Oh yes, this fog stuff we get.

'Tis the season.

Unrelated, there's a Haydn symphony nicknamed "The Palindrome" (Symphony No. 47 in G major Hob. I:47) due to its third movement wherein the second part of each the Minuet and the Trio is the same as the first, but backward. I heard this on the radio today and liked the concept of this done in music.

... and back to your regularly scheduled programming...

2010-10-04T15:23:00.001-04:00

One of my best ladies, Miss Lindsay Juntunen, and her nifty fella', Chad Lajiness, are going to get hitched. Congratulations on your engagement, friends!

Life

2010-09-15T17:01:00.002-04:00

Many of you may wonder what it's like to be in a PhD program. I feel my life is pretty typical to that of my chemistry, physics, and engineering PhD friends, except they spend more of their lives sitting around a lab and can't actually leave at a normal time.

Day-to-day life as a PhD student goes like this for me:

Get up when I want, as long as I can make it into school before whatever morning meeting I may have (which range from 10 am to 11 am start times).
Drive to parking lot. Take bus to SPH.
Walk up to 4th floor.
Never ever EVER leave cubicle unless it is to go to conference room or chair's office for meeting.
Never ever have any idea what else happens on any other floor of this school, nor see new faces of MPH students.
Have lots of meetings in small or large groups
Occasionally go out for lunch.
Spend lots of time reading articles and trying to write and figuring what direction my dissertation will go in
Bus to parking lot. Drive home/to frisbee fields/wherever I have something after school.

I bet you're all jealous!

XO,
A

Summary-time, and the living is easy

2010-09-15T10:39:00.002-04:00

Well, it's been a whole month since that deer fiasco, but I still think of that poor baby deer getting mauled by a car every time I drive up Huron Parkway and am saddened. That aside, life is pretty fantastic -- mostly filled with frisbee and epigenetics.

The month of August was a blur. There was Cooler Classic where I played with The Alliance; Juggles and Lucas also played with us which was awesome because those are two ultimate players whose sweet disc moves I know back and forth. The weekend after Cooler was Treetown Donut Crown, put on by Pat Reed in Ann Arbor. My random pickup team was freaking sweet and managed to edge out the other random Spoiler/Alliance team just barely to take the crown.

My parents also came to town in August and helped to clean up the gardens and yard a bit. We did a lot of work, and my yard started looking a lot better. We still have a lot of work to do, but it was a big help to have them out.

Later in August, Melissa, Lee, Ed Dupas and I took a spur of the moment trip down to Cedar Point and spent the day riding roller coasters and eating fatty foods. I honestly don't think I've screamed and giggled like that since I was a kid. Man, roller coasters are AWEsome!

Last weekend was Chicago Heavyweights, where Melissa and I played women's ultimate for the first time in a long time. We picked up with the Surly Women from my home state of Minnesota. Those ladies sure were a TON of fun, and drinking a big can of cold Surly beer after a long day of ultimate feels absolutely incredible! We broke seed, and Melissa and I even managed to learn everyone's names by the end of the weekend.

Somewhere in there, we got a facecord and a half of wood delivered to our house. (Turns out, that's a whole lot of wood!) Now we can make fires in our fireplace OR our brand new firebowl on the patio. Also, Jason and Angela finally tied the knot at an awesome Italian catholic wedding, which had really delicious food and this weird DJ who would lip sync to every song.

I also finally figured out sort of what I might want to do for my dissertation, which is a huge step forward. But, now it's just a matter of actually getting it done. When I presented the idea to my adviser, she seemed to think it was going to take me a really long time. And, honestly, there's a lot involved in it, so it probably will.... So, work is filled with writing papers and researching, which is great because I didn't really feel like I had direction over the summer so I didn't get as much done as I would have liked. But now I at least have a path, whether or not it's paved in cement or I have to follow breadcrumbs to find my way....

This weekend will be filled with a visit from the legend: Allan Evans, who has been off exploring the world and helping people near and far. Also, there are plans to go to Frankenmuth, "Michigan's Little Bavaria," for the world's largest Christmas store and a whole lot of beer at Oktoberfest.

Lastly, I just signed up for Door-To-Door Organics, so now I will have organic produce delivered to my home on a biweekly schedule. This is my new favorite business idea, especially because it's really affordable and they give you a ton of produce. This winter is going to be filled with fresh, delicious fruits and veggies!

So that's it. A summary of the last month of my life. It was boring to read, and much more exciting to live. But, I felt I owed this blog a little bit of time.

Deer, I fear, we're facing a problem....

2010-08-12T10:39:00.003-04:00

It's 10:39 a.m. and already today has been... filled with unexpected events.

It was a typical morning. I awoke, drank some coffee, and slowly got ready for school. It's a dreary morning. The drizzle started as I pulled out of my garage. Traffic was flowing as I journeyed up busy Carpenter Rd to the more scenic Hogback Rd.

I took a left onto Huron River Drive, which is a very narrow, shoulder-less 2-lane winding road, with trees and marshland on either side of it as it carves its way through the river valley. The speed limit is 35 mph, and no passing is allowed. But, apparently these laws don't apply to large SUVs. The guy behind me pulled out alongside me to pass me. He was going probably close to 50. He narrowly made it back into the lane before getting hit by an oncoming car that he didn't see because THERE'S NO FREAKING PASSING ON A TINY WINDING ROAD!

So, that was interesting. I called Juggles to report the idiocy of certain SUV drivers, and continued my drive, turning right onto Huron Parkway, a faster 4-lane divided road. As I was approaching my Michigan left to get to my parking lot, a baby deer pranced out in front of me. I exclaimed to J, "Wow, that was close!" and marveled at his cuteness, all the while thinking that 10 am is a strange time for a deer to be prancing across roads.

I looked back in my rear view mirror just in time to see him get torn to bits by another vehicle. I burst out crying, of course... He was just a baby. I watched him as he slammed up on the car's hood and almost lost a leg in the ordeal. The best I can hope is that he died instantly and didn't suffer.

It was horrible. Absolutely horrible. Poor baby deer. :(

As I pulled into my parking spot, bawling, I kept wondering what I should do for the baby deer. Should I go back and see if it's still alive and try to help it? Of course, reality hit and I realize there was very little chance the little creature could have sustained injuries of that nature and lived. What should I do...?

I called my mom, knowing that she'd be able to provide me with compassionate words in this situation. She reminded me that though this is a sad, sad situation, we should take this moment (and every one) to celebrate life, to smile upon it, and to be compassionate to those around us.

So today is for you, little baby deer. Your death was brutal and your life short, but I will do what I can to commemorate your little prancing spirit on this cloudy and dismal day.

If I gave you diamonds and pearls / would you be a happy boy or a girl

2010-07-14T22:32:00.003-04:00

When 1.5 shelves in your fridge are filled with beer, you know:

You have great friends (though maybe the quality of your friendship is equivalent to the quality of beer they bring you?)
The obvious logical choice for a dinner beverage is likely a Magic Hat Wacko.
You need to invite people over more frequently so you have room for things like eggs and milk...

Also, I apologize to Dawn and everyone else who have asked me for pictures of the new house. It's still horribly a mess since I haven't had a weekend to actually work on organizing things (and I won't have a weekend at home until August sometime!). So... I promise, there will be photos someday.

Finally, I'm going to submit a bid to a tournament that my friend Pat is putting on called Treetown Donut Crown. Here are team names I've come up with so far:

Deep Fried Toroid
D'oh...NUTS
The Magic is in the Hole
Shut Your Donut Hole
The Donut and Sausage Situation
Donut Burger
Donut Genie Mark VI (that's the name of the mini-doughnut machine at the best mini-doughnut place ever in Pike's Place)

Thoughts?

2010-06-21T13:52:00.003-04:00

Hi-diddly-ho, Neighborinos!

And neighborinos you might be! See, Juggles and I just bought a house. We closed on Thursday and moved in Friday. It's been an absolutely insane weekend and we are still swimming in boxes, wondering where some of our everyday items, like vitamins and shampoo, might be. But, we're unpacking slowly but surely.

The house is great -- really adorable with a cool layout. I'll take pictures and post them once the mess is a little more controlled. My dad bought us a fantastic new lawnmower, which we have yet to use, and we also now own TWO ladders and a weed whacker. Fantastic!

We aim to meet our neighbors when we have the chance. On either side of us, we have original owners who bought their houses in the '50s when they were built. One side is this woman with an amazing beehive of a gray hairdo. I imagine she's just about the coolest lady ever. On the other side, is an older couple who seem to have a great garden. Of course, about a block away, there's a house with LITERALLY about 50 birdhouses in the yard of all shapes and colors. I am so going trick-or-treating there just to meet whoever lives there.

So, busy weekend... We're settling in slowly, but managed to make it through a tough and sleepless weekend of moving and cleaning. The cats are going insane around the house and we have about a bajillion projects to start upon. Juggles set up our TV last night though, so we can at least order pizza and watch some Dragonball Z.

Ahhh, home sweet home.

2010-04-30T10:53:00.000-04:00

I should blog more!

But first, to the textbooks! BBIAB!

2010-04-04T12:58:00.003-04:00

On my Easter Sunday, I made myself a big brunch of perfect French toast with real maple syrup and fresh strawberries. And I called my parents and boyfriend (who is on his way back here anyhow) to feel like I had family around while I was eating. I got chased around by the cats. I watched an episode of the Simpsons. I opened the windows to enjoy the spring breeze. And I plan on playing some frisbee in a couple of hours.

It's not such a bad Easter, just not a typical one from my youth. There's no ham dinner or seeing cousins or dying eggs and hunting for them. But that's what growing up does... It makes me realize how much I appreciate my loved ones every day of the year. I may not see my family frequently or even on normal holidays, but there's never a doubt that they're always in my heart.

Happy Easter.

Still Life with Fruit and Blood.

2010-02-10T00:07:00.003-05:00

And some of that blood is no longer blood, but just little double helices of pyrimidines and purines floating in buffer. The rest is frozen in time.

2010-02-07T23:46:00.002-05:00

A photo of the IDS Tower that I took was included in something called "Schmap," which, to my understanding, is basically a city map with pictures of landmarks.

You can see it here.

Neat.

I take everything from the inside and throw it all out

2010-02-07T20:23:00.002-05:00

J and I went to this new Chinese place in Ypsi for lunch today. On Sundays, they apparently do dim sum until they open the buffet at 3. I can get behind some dim sum. Or so I thought.

I've always taken issue with meat served at most Chinese places. It's usually served either fried and greasy, or otherwise just doesn't seem to be very high grade meat. And, well, I have enough issue with eating meat in general, being a former vegetarian and a public health student simultaneously (I try to avoid factory-farmed meat, served predominantly corn meal and antibiotics).

So, the way this place worked is that you sit down and servers walk around with carts with different dishes on it. They stop and, if they spoke any English, they'd tell you what was on their cart and you could choose to have it or not (if they didn't speak English, you'd have to guess as to what was on their cart -- fried balls of some sort of seafood? Maybe!). This is not ideal for a picky eater like me, but I figure I'll eventually find something I can get behind.

J gets some pork-something-something. I don't eat pork. He then gets some lobster balls of some sort. Meh. Some guy comes around with these mini egg pie things, so I grab some. They're much sweeter than I'm expecting, but I eat some just because I'm unsure if I'll find anything else I'll actually eat.

A guy comes around with some chicken-rice-mushroom thing wrapped in a huge leaf of some sort. I decide to just go for it. It's chicken, right? It can't be so bad!

It's... fine... for the first few bites. Fine. Chicken mashed with rice and mushrooms. Ok.

Then I notice it.

WTF is this thing? It looks like the end of a hot dog, complete with some sort of sheath around it. I eyeball it and immediately begin feeling nauseous.

J removes it from my plate and then notices that he has one too. By this time I'm nearly gagging as I'm considering what this might be. Chicken intestines? Gizzards? What organs otherwise resemble the end of a hot dog? I'm so not down with this.

We start to joke about what anatomical part of a chicken these are. The only logical thing is chicken penis, of course. This humor does not help me regain my appetite.

Lesson of the day: don't loosen your morals just for a cheap meal. Blech. BLECH!

Nothing can catch her, nothing can touch my 409

2010-01-31T22:01:00.002-05:00

I love seeing pictures of my parents when they were young. My mom was a fox and my dad was a handsome devil. Recently, my mom forwarded me an email from her brother that had a couple pictures of her at 18. Of course I have to share one, because she's gorgeous! And so is that little red car....

2010-01-19T15:08:00.002-05:00

I found that amusing. That is all.

Oh Kitty, My Darling, remember that the doom will be mine if I stay

2010-01-14T11:33:00.004-05:00

Kitties in the sink!

I peaked out of the shower when I heard some commotion. Seems Annabelle was playing with one of her toys in the sink, while Charlie sat idly by, slightly peeved. I had to run and grab the camera to capture it, though this pic doesn't quite do them justice. Now, they're running around the apartment while I attempt to get some epi reading done. Crazy kitties!

I'll leave you with a picture of Charlie that I took on my phone. He's hanging out with his best friends, Lauren the Bear and Leslie the Lesbian Sock Monkey.

Last week I wanted just to disappear / my life was dust / but now it just may be a happy new year

2010-01-03T03:18:00.004-05:00

Goodbye those 365 days that we called 2009. And, welcome to 2010!

The last few weeks of 2009 flew by way too quickly. I spent a weekend in Grand Rapids to celebrate the holidays with Juggles's siblings and father, then followed it up with two final exams. I was done with finals on Dec 15 and then spent a short week in Minnesota with family and friends to celebrate the holidays (and my best friend's 30th birthday!). I returned to Ann Arbor on the 23rd, and left for Grand Rapids the next day to do Christmas with Juggles's mom's side of the family. I spent time in lab this week, and also caring for Juggles as he came down with a nasty fever on Tuesday. I also started to clean and organize the apartment a little better.

For Christmas, my parents got me a new phone. I opted for T-Mobile's Google phone and I do love it so far, partly because it's burgundy, but also because of the addicting games I downloaded to it. I'm obsessed with WordPops and JewelsMania as of late. I also enjoy having weather, Wikipedia, and Pandora right at my fingertips.

Another amazing Christmas present included this wonderful piece of art that my mom found at a show at the University of Minnesota. They're shipping it to me so I can get it framed here. I already have the perfect place in my apartment picked out for it. They also gave me silk prayer flags that they picked up when they were in China. They're already hung in my apartment to add color and spirit to the living room. Juggles got me silly things like a giant plush Herpes (because it looks like a sunshine so I've always loved it), and a couple of BPA-free water bottles to replace my cancer-causing water bottles I've got sitting around, etc. Sandy got me an electric tea kettle which we've been putting to great use this week.

I really enjoyed giving Juggles his presents. I was really happy with the presentation of the gifts, as well as how well they represented him. I got him some new work clothes because he doesn't have many options on days when he has to impress the bigwigs, as well as a Threadless tee that suits him. I got him a computer game he wanted, as well as an XBox game that his friend recommended. To top it off, I got him some fingerless gloves to keep his hands warm while he's on the computer. He's been wearing them NONSTOP. I also got him a graphic novel written by Terry Pratchett because I thought it sounded pretty cool, and I've enjoyed stuff by Pratchett (with his shadows of Native American culture all over his writings). I got him a couple other little things too.

I did some fun baking this week when I had time. I made some delicious enchiladas one night. Then I made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies the other day, followed by a batch of pumpkin pancakes for breakfast this morning in order to use the rest of the pumpkin puree. All turned out nicely. We have dozens of cookies left to eat if anyone wants to come over!

The cats are starting to get along better. Charlie was laying on the ottoman this morning and I saw Annabelle cuddle up behind him and spoon him. They stayed like that for a good 15 minutes or so until Annabelle got restless and started chasing things. Charlie's more cuddly lately, and sweeter in general, I think.

I did get to see Diana over break very randomly. That was phenomenal. I do miss her dearly now that she's away in PA for med school, but I'm also very proud of her for being her awesome future-doctor self. Hopefully I'll get to see her again soon.

School starts soon, I think. I'm not exactly sure when. I should check into that so I can figure out what I'm actually going to take.

I've been doing some online shopping over the last couple of days. So far I've managed not to buy too much. I ordered a new backpack the other day because I couldn't NOT -- it was a Burton bag for about 1/3 it's original price including shipping. And it was cool fabric.

Other things I'm looking at buying over the next few months include: a new lightweight comforter, dinnerware, glassware, and a wine rack. I'm slowly making this cookie-cutter apartment feel more like home. The prayer flags in the living room definitely help a lot, as do the Yeti stockings hung above the fake fireplace. Maybe next summer I'll even try to plant a few herbs and things.

2010 is filled with a few good resolutions and hopefully many good revelations. Of course there's the typical "eat better" and "study harder" stuff, but I've also got some more personal soul-growth resolutions that I'm putting together.

Happy New Year. May you be true to yourself, and may your year be filled with peace and bliss.

2009-12-15T11:05:00.002-05:00

Today I take my last final of my firs semester as a PhD student. Then, I'm going to walk to Main Street and get Juggles one last Christmas present, go home, head to the last night of late fall league and play some disc. I'll go home, shower, go to The Arena, mourn the departure of Finn as he leaves for his home of South Africa, eat some nachos, go home, and go to bed.

This is exciting for you readers, I'm sure...

I think what it boils down to is... I'm heading to Minnesota tomorrow!

2009-12-15T00:58:00.002-05:00

You'd be surprised at the number of things there are to do when it's time to study for finals. From putting laundry away to making sure the cats get enough cuddle time, there's always something more important than studying.

I'm climbing up on the railing, trying my best not to look down. I'm going to do my best swan dive into shark infested waters.

2009-10-24T17:46:00.004-04:00

We live in an apartment complex that has, what some may call, nice landscaping. We have ponds and playgrounds and trees and flowers. There are even tomato plants somehow growing through the rock landscaping stuff that's outside our computer room window.

Well, last May, I returned home from school to find fake plastic swans floating in the pond. We hypothesized that they were there to keep the geese away or something. If this was the case, it was highly unsuccessful because we had many families of geese grow up around the ponds outside our apartment door.

I digress...

The fake plastic swans floating in the ponds were named Phyllis and Martin, and they had a love affair much like Romeo and Juliet... Phyllis was on one side of the pond and Martin the other, strapped down and not allowed to move.

Well, sometime over the past week or two, Phyllis and Martin became real. I kid you not. Those things somehow transformed because we now have two swans that circle the pond together.

Birds don't like me. This is a-whole-nother story for another day, but they don't like me.

Thus, when taking out the trash today, I shouldn't have been surprised to be greeted unamicably by Phyllis and Martin as they charged me, hissing. I wasn't even in their business at all. No, they just charged. So I, of course, screamed, and ran the long way around the building to get back to my apartment. I walked in crying and laughing at the same time, and Juggles just couldn't quite figure out what to do with me.

So, I looked out the window and noticed Phyllis and Martin swimming around the pond closest to our apartment and decided to take a few pictures.

Phyllis and Martin look lovely swimming around the pond together.

Why are they getting out of the water?

No, really... why?

They really are coming after me! They're on the patio. (view from inside my screen door... which they pecked at...)

Annabelle will get 'em!

Charlie lays down the smack!

And don't come back!

Phyllis and Martin are assholes. I liked them better when they were plastic.

Threw some chords together -- the combination D-E-F -- is who I am, is what I do, and I was gonna lay it down for you

2009-10-07T14:07:00.003-04:00

The start of a list of "things I want to do when I'm not stuck in a gazillion classes":
(to be updated, at least mentally)

Go to Austin to visit Emily and hang out at SXSW.
Work for Rick AND Sharon and not feel pressed for time in either lab.
Head up my own research project... on top of working for Rick and Sharon.
Read the pile of Science magazine that's piling up on my floor.
Travel, duh!
Frequent happy hour.
Find all the Fairy Doors in A2.
Hang out with Kristin more frequently...
And Lisa and Sachi and Kraig and Ali and ...
Visit Minnesota more often then one weekend every 6 months.
Visit Melissa in Cleveland because I miss her.
Play the piano a lot.
Play the sax even more.

But first, I'll make it through this year... And then plan a trip somewhere awesome next May. :-)

For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams of the beautiful Annabelle Lee

2009-09-28T23:37:00.002-04:00

It's true: I haven't posted in over a month. Typical me. But life keeps rolling along.

I went to Scotland. I went to Ireland. I came back to Michigan. I went to orientation. I did some lab work. Juggles and I got a kitten. I started school. I played a tournament. I went to more school. I did some homework. That's about it.

Not like all of those things don't have some excitement in their midst, like the surprising goodness of the gooey part of a chocolate eclair. Yum.

Unfortunately, I still don't have pictures from my Scotland/Ireland trip up on the internet so I can't really share them with you yet. So I'll give a brief rundown of the vacay.

In Scotland, I visited a friend I've known since high school, Miss Samantha Johnson, originally of Victoria, MN. She's a student at the University of Glasgow, so she shared her accommodation with me and showed me around the area. She was a fantastic hostess. We wandered the streets of Glasgow and Edinburgh. We climbed a mountain without a trail. We ate good food and drank good drinks. And I almost got to try deep fried pizza.

In Ireland, I stayed in Dublin the entire week. I was mainly at a conference for the International Society of Environmental Epidemiologists, where I presented a poster. But I found time to wander the city, see the Museum of Modern Arts and the Kilmainham Jail and St. Patrick's Cathedral and some other great places. I drank Guinness in the Guinness Storehouse, as well as at bars down the street. I schmoozed with some conference-goers, met a cool girl from Canada, and spent time with some of my fellow U of M friends.

It was amazing, and I almost didn't want to come home.

A week after I got home, Juggles and I stopped in at the humane society to see what cute kittens were in stock. Turns out, they had a darling little black kitten who soon became our own. We welcome Annabelle Cat, now sister of Charlie Cat, into our little family. She's insane, but completely sweet. She loves cuddling, purring, playing with plastic bags, and chasing fake mice and Charlie's tail. Charlie is still getting used to her, and doesn't quite appreciate being chased over the apartment all day.

School started and I'm supposedly some big shot PhD student. I have a place in the Kardia lab now, and am sort of winding down and not able to spend as much time up in Rick's lab on 7th floor. (insert pouty face here.) I'm taking just three classes, but they are a ton of work. And I don't really enjoy two of them, which makes them twice the work -- first I have to spend time motivating myself to start homework, then I have to do the work. I do like my Cardiovascular Epid course so far, however. It's fairly straightforward and discusses some interesting issues.

Moving along, now... Hybrid went to sectionals in Versailles, OH last weekend and took second to BOI. We're heading to regionals in a couple of weeks. We'll see how that goes. I know I'll be swamped with work so even though I really want us to make it to Day 2 of regionals play, I'm okay if we can go home after the first day so I can get work done!

I've really started to enjoy playing with some of the Hybrid folks, like High School and Pug, who I rarely get to play with. I'm a De line player, and a bunch of my favorites are O line players, so I had a good time over the weekend when I was thrown in on points with Stewy, Juggles, Craig, and some others I rarely play with.

That's a pretty quick summary of life over the past month. The seasons are changing and a cold front set in today to make it feel like fall finally. It's a little depressing when I have to pull my sweaters out before I ever really got my shorts and skirts fully integrated into my fashion.

Next time, hopefully I'll have some pictures to share of Europe and Annabelle and life.

I am reaching out won't you take my hand, I'm coming home Ireland

2009-08-18T01:12:00.003-04:00

I'm headed to Scotland tomorrow (later today, technically). How'd it get to be August already?

I spent last week crazy busy in lab trying to finish up some labwork, while simultaneously getting my poster done for the ISEE conference. I took off for Milwaukee on Friday afternoon for a weekend of frisbee at Cooler with my Hybrid teammates. The wonderful thing about Cooler is the number of Minnesota teams that represent. This means, I was blessed to see my lovely exbf360, Louie, as well as a number of other awesome Minnesota friends, like all of Kablammo, as well as folks like Jeff, Justine, and Ben Hesse.

We got back pretty late last night (Sunday), and showered and passed out. That almost meant that I got to worry about preparing to leave the country today. But not quite. I had to a) do a ton of laundry, b) attend some meetings, and c) do a bit of labwork. Then I had to run around Ann Arbor like a madwoman searching for a 42" poster tube for my poster.

Well... turns out that they don't have 42" poster tubes anywhere, it seems. But, apparently, that's ok, because when I was unrolling my poster, I noticed they screwed up the printing anyway. So I had to email them and my fingers are crossed that they'll reprint it tomorrow morning before I leave.

So, I came home around 5 and started getting my stuff ready to go. I was going to try to take my medium-sized suitcase, but that just doesn't seem like it's going to work. Turns out, since I'm bumming around in the Glasgow rain and mud for a week before going to Dublin where I need to look professional and pretty, I need a lot of clothes.

So, basically, what it comes down to, is that it's 1:30 am, the day that I'm leaving for Europe for a couple of weeks, and I'm not packed yet.

That's ok. I also don't have a place to stay the last night I'm there either. So it goes.

On an unrelated note, this chair is flippin' sweet:

Summertime, and the livin' is easy...

2009-08-08T20:08:00.014-04:00

I realize it's been a couple of months since I've written anything. I'm not sure if anyone notices, aside from Jared, so my conscience due to lack of blogging is mostly directed toward him.

Summer is already drawing to a close. I've been working for Rick doing some epigenetics stuff in lab again this summer, and spending my freetime playing ultimate. Juggles and I are captaining a league team together on Tuesday nights, and I signed up to play the Thursday night league with my fellow Minnesotan and lab buddy, Lisa. On top of that, I'm playing for a coed team called Hybrid.

Due to frisbee, I've gotten to do some traveling. I started the summer with a trip to Gender Blender in Ontario with a bunch of Ann Arborites. Blender is a pretty crazy tournament, marked by a night of partying in costumes, where each team is required to provide games and shots for everyone else. It's basically a huge carnival for 21+ ultimate players in various costumes.

Geoff and I partying at Blender

Ann Arborites after Gender Blender

A few weeks later, Juggles and I took off for Grand Rapids to visit his family and celebrate Father's Day on the boat on Lake Michigan, then followed that up with a trip to South Bend to play a tournament with Hybrid called Down with the Clown. We came in 2nd, after a loss to Abusement Park on universe point.

Hybrid after playing Down with the Clown

A few days after South Bend, Juggles and I took off for Seattle to play one of the biggest tournaments ever, Potlatch, with a bunch of my Minnesota buddies. Adro was a superstar to throw that all together. It started off with flight issues. After standing in line at the airport for over an hour waiting to check in, they closed the flight and gave our seats away 3 minutes before we arrived at the kiosk to check in. We managed to run to the gate and get on the flight in the exit row right before they closed the door to the plane. Of course, this meant that we didn't have our luggage upon arrival in Seattle, so we took off for Pike's Place and had some amazing salmon, mini-donuts, and dried strawberries, and did some shopping before returning to the airport to get our luggage.

It was a super hot weekend in Seattle, far more hot and humid than usual in Seattle. The tournament is a 3-day tournament, and highs were around 90 with an insane humidity level. And, of course, we were wearing black jerseys. But, we found ways to keep cool that included, but are not limited to: getting our jerseys wet in the water fountains before games, and playing underwear points.

Seattle through a Sculpture

Alicia and Juggles, sweaty during tournament play

Little Girl in Sumo Suit (because she was cute)

After playing Potlatch, we took off for San Francisco, where we rented a car to drive to San Luis Obispo to visit on of Juggles's closest friends (and former roommates), Bill, and his girlfriend Tamera. They moved from Ann Arbor last summer because Tamera wanted to be closer to her family. The climate in SLO is perfect -- about 80 and sunny every day of the year. At night, the fog filters in from the ocean through the mountains (there's a range of 7 old volcanoes that funnel the fog into SLO). We did some hiking up Bishop's Peak and some wine tasting at the local vineyards. Of course we ate at In-N-Out Burger and it was very delicious. Even I, the pseudo-vegetarian, had a big meaty cheeseburger. It was a phenomenal vacation, and very necessary to break up the summer a bit. Unfortunately, I managed to catch a cold from one of the flights and was pretty full of snot for the entire time we were at Bill's. But, we took it easy and relaxed in California style, so it was still a great vacation.

They make their fries from potatoes right in front of your eyes!

Juggles enjoying his burger

Climbing to the top of Bishop's Peak

I'm the queen of the world

Bill and Juggles at one of the vineyards

Bill and Juggles sauntering back to the car

The day we arrived back from our vacation, my favorite birthday buddy, Melissa, was in town to take her nursing boards. (She passed with flying colors!) This meant a night of debauchery in her honor, and a weekend of low key hanging out after that (she stays on our couch when she's in town, so it's like having another roommate, especially because she now has a key and her own bathroom). We started out Friday night at Dominick's and moved to Habana when they closed. Somehow Habana turned pretty insane -- people were buying rounds of shots for everyone (there were 15 of us or so?), so I probably managed to have about 5 shots and 2 beers in the couple hours we were there. I woke up Saturday morning hangover-free though. That's why I love shots and having a high metabolism! Saturday was a lazy day filled with breakfast with Jugs, Melissa, and Eric, then the start of the Harry Potter marathon, and culminated with a trip to Olive Garden with Grant and Zeke.

Will, Dana, Josh, Geoff, and Melissa at Habana

Grant and Melissa

Juggles and Alicia

The next weekend, we headed to Chicago to play Sandblast, a really fun tournament on the beach of Lake Michigan. My favorite Cuspian Twin (she was born 12 hours before me, and we're both on the Taurus/Gemini cusp), Kriss, came to visit us on the beach and take some pictures. We played on a team lead by a guy named Jon who was known as Juggles's twin when he was in A2 because, without his beard, he has the same build and really does look similar enough that people used to get them confused. A few other Hybrid buddies, including Sherri, Jules, and Scooter, played on this team, as well as some Toledo folks and a few other randoms. It was fun, but I ended up with a migraine on Saturday and had to miss the party because of it. On a positive note, Kablammo, Adro's Minnesota team, was there sporting white briefs and button down shirts, ala Tom Cruise in his dance scene from Risky Business. It was pretty hot.

Throwing discs

Carrying around his 6'4" frame

Kablammo in their Risky Business attire

The weekend after Sandblast was a local tournament called Motown Throwdown in Hartland, MI, about 30 mins north of A2. Hybrid decided to split into two teams, offensive and defensive lines, for the tournament to practice some new stuff, and also since their wasn't heavy competition. I played on the defensive line, and had some okay scores and such. We worked our clam de a bit, and played around to adjust our zone better. It was great fun, but an entirely exhausting weekend since we didn't have as many people on our teams.

The Thursday following MoThrow was Juggles's birthday. Of course, we have frisbee on Thursday nights, so I arranged a nice, quiet evening at The Arena with him and about 40 of our friends for karaoke, nachos, beer, and the destruction of Juggles via alcohol. Sparing too many details, Juggles had an amazing night -- shots, an AMAZING rendition of "Loveshack" that he performed with Amish, more shots, and... well, too many shots. Poor kid had a pretty rough night and a horribly rough Friday.

This brings us to August, and our last tournament, The Rock, in Rockford, IL. Stew and Vic picked us up on Friday at 530. Juggles slept the entire way to Rockford (6 hrs!). Saturday morning, he shook off his hangover, and played some amazing ultimate. Hybrid played okay on Saturday. I think we went 2-2, but there was one game we definitely could have had if we would have made better decisions. Sunday was a little more rough, and very frustrating for most. This tournament made me realize that our team has incredible potential, but may never realize it because we just do stupid things. If we can clean up our game, we have a definite shot at making it pretty far in the club series this fall. But we've got a ways to go. I won't go into specifics, but I'm just going to say that I was pretty much forgotten about during our last game, which is highly amusing because when I was on the line, I never once let the girl I guarded score on me even if she was the fastest girl on the team and had an iso called on her in the endzone. Let me say, my car had a few words to say on our journey home, based on line calling, strategy, and decision-making. It was a trip. We got home at 2 am and were worn out.

That brings us to this weekend... We had Hybrid practice in Detroit this morning in the pouring rain and it was great fun. Tomorrow we have practice again. Then, next weekend we're headed to Milwaukee for Cooler Classic. That's been my summer thus far!

Those flashing lights come from everywhere

2009-06-14T11:13:00.003-04:00

I have a crush on this girl's awesomeness:

She's played with Tegan & Sara, Foo Fighters, etc. And, in 2006, was named a "Guitar God" by Rolling Stone, being the first female to ever make this list. Also, she's not even 30.

:-)

2009-06-10T16:07:00.002-04:00

Beat them senseless with kindness.

2009-06-10T13:54:00.003-04:00

Summertime:
Season of road construction and violent encounters in Ann Arbor.

Two emails this week about assaults/attempted robberies. This is about equivalent to the number of emails throughout the entire school year with respect to violent encounters.

2009-05-22T12:54:00.001-04:00

That just about sums it up.

2009-05-02T15:18:00.001-04:00

Being a master of public health, now, I can honestly say that this represents my ideas about swine flu...

2009-04-29T16:09:00.001-04:00

Happy end of finals!

Everywhere there's lots of piggies / Liveing piggy lives

2009-04-29T12:23:00.000-04:00

Wolf and Pig

2009-04-26T12:03:00.004-04:00

Winter Semester, 2009.

EPID 516, Genetics in Public Health - take-home final exam due: 4/29
EPID 543, Virus Diseases - in-class final exam: 4/28
EPID 565, HME Capstone - Done!
EPID 582, Molecular Epidemiology - Done!
EPID 609, Vaccines in Public Health - Done!
EPID 631, Topics in Cancer Epidemiology - Done!

2009-04-24T10:24:00.001-04:00

This reminded me of my dad's lectures when I was in high school...

When Autumn comes, it doesn't ask / It just walks in where it left you last

2009-04-23T10:22:00.001-04:00

.
& I've been imagining myself 1000 miles away
in a million different places since the day I was born.
What makes you think I'll find reality any time soon?
.

2009-04-22T12:31:00.003-04:00

Public health joke, as told by Shama:

So this Bangladeshi woman married this man whom she had known for quite some time. However, being that they were good, pious people, they hadn't been exposed to each other's bodies at all until their wedding night.

On their wedding night, the man began to undress. The woman noticed a horrible looking mark on his elbow and asked what it was.

"Oh, that! That's left over from my elbolio. I've had it since I was a child."
"Don't you mean 'polio,'" the woman responded?
"No, no... elbolio!" the husband replied.

He continued undressing and the woman noticed an ugly rash on his legs.

"Oh my! Your legs! What's wrong?" the woman exclaimed!
"Oh, my wife. No worries. That is from my kneesles. It is not contagious anymore."
The woman responded, "Wait, do you mean 'measles?'"
Her husband replied, "No... I'm sure it's kneesles!"

So, the man kept undressing.
As he removed his underwear the woman's eyes grew large.

"... Don't tell me," she said. "Small cocks?"

Ha. Ha. Ha.

I wish I could eat your cancer when you turn black

2009-04-22T11:52:00.002-04:00

2009-04-18T17:55:00.000-04:00

PUMA Women's v-Konstrukt II Gci FG - White/Black Firm Ground Soccer Shoes

New cleats. Backordered.
I love my Diadora's but they're wearing out really fast. So, I'm trying some Pumas as I work my way through the list of cleat-makers in the quest to find the perfect cleat. So far, nothing beats my old Adidas that I had about 5 years ago -- so comfortable and long lasting... But Adidas these days just doesn't fit right.

2009-04-15T09:57:00.002-04:00

All Things Left Before Graduation

4/16 - Vaccines Exam
4/16 - A2 Ultimate
4/16 - Rock Band Night @ Windemere
4/17 - Art and Wine with Lisa
4/19 - Hybrid Workout
4/19 - A2 Ultimate
4/20 - Virus HW 5
4/20 - Dinner at Melissa's
4/23 - Nichole's Defense
4/23 - A2 Ultimate
4/21 - MDR-TB Group Presentation
4/24 - MDR-TB Group Paper
4/24 - SPH Friends at Dominick's
4/25 - Compagnie Marie Chouinard @ Power Center
4/26 - Hybrid Workout?
4/26 - A2 Ultimate
4/28 - Virus Exam
4/28 - PARENTS ARRIVE!
4/29 - Genetics Take-Home Exam Due
4/29 - Indoor Ultimate?
4/30 - GRADUATION

It's the final countdown

2009-04-15T09:52:00.003-04:00

Assignments and Due Dates Until I Graduate:

4/16 - Vaccines Exam
4/20 - Virus HW 5
4/21 - MDR-TB Group Presentation
4/24 - MDR-TB Group Paper
4/28 - Virus Exam
4/29 - Genetics Take-Home Exam Due
4/30 - GRADUATION

2009-04-15T09:49:00.002-04:00

Public Health Joke, as told by Allison:

Q: What do you call a rabbit with gonorrhea?

A: Peter Rotten Tail

.

2009-03-31T12:21:00.001-04:00

You may not realize this, but I'm one of the least patient people ever. Maybe lab is teaching me some patience... Lord knows, you have to wait a long time for some of this stuff to turn out correctly!

Also, just to throw a random fact out there: they stock the presidential Cadillac with bags of the president's blood type. Obama is AB.

Everyday is a winding road, I get a little bit closer...

2009-03-28T16:16:00.002-04:00

This post is dedicated to my friend and 6th floor lab buddy Jared.

I haven't updated in ages. It's true. I'm a bad, bad blogger.

I've been incredibly busy with school, mostly. I just recently finished my capstone presentation on my summer research on DNA methylation and lead levels. I also just got published. Yes, I'm just one of a long list of coauthors, but it's still pretty neat. You can read it here if you're interested: Influence of Prenatal Lead Exposure on Genomic Methylation of Cord Blood DNA

I'm working my way through my last semester of my MPH. Allison told me our countdown is something like 38 days. I don't know if that's just weekdays, or if that counts weekends. Nonetheless, I graduate on April 30. Mostly, I'm really looking forward to seeing my parents for a few days. I'm sorta hoping to get home for Easter, but I'm not sure if that'll happen.

On a positive note, it's springtime in Ann Arbor! This means warmer weather, no snow, and the opening of Dominick's. I made sure to have some sangria last week in celebration of a) springtime, and b) being done with my capstone presentation at Dominick's last Thursday and hope to visit it many more times before the ending of school. It's sometimes tough to keep academically on track right now as most people have just checked out.

Last week, Diana and I did some homework together at Espresso Royale on State. We left as ER was closing around 11:30 and just happened to walk by Ashley's on the way out. I joked that we should stop for a beer, and Diana proceeded to pull me through the doorway. I enjoyed my Stella Artois, while she despised her Michigan micro beer tour. Apparently Michigan beers aren't always the way to go, as one tasted like cough syrup. No joke. It was nast.

Just to prove my flighty nature, I will now discuss things that will happen in May and beyond. Juggles just forwarded me a note from Deb about going to a tournament in Destin, FL in the middle of May, so I might go down to play Surf 'n' Turf if I can afford the plane ticket. After that, I'm hoping to make it to Gender Blender in Toronto, assuming an Ann Arbor team gets formed, and I was asked to play Poultry Days in Ohio with a friend's team later in June. And I'm heading to Seattle in July to play Potlatch with my friend Adro's Minnesota team.

Other planned trips include going to visit my cousin Lisa in DC at the beginning of June, and hopefully a trip home at some point in time sooner than later. I have been a little homesick lately. I realized that Winter Break didn't leave me with the feeling of home, since I had to share my experiences by spending most of my time with Juggles and Dean. Not like I don't love them both dearly, but I wanted some alone time with my parents and friends, I think. I'm such an only child! Basically, what I'm saying is that I need to get home for some chill time!

Tonight is SPH prom. If I would have planned earlier, I would have gone to the Salvation Army to purchase some '80s formal with big poofy sleeves and hit up the dance like that. Instead, I'm wearing some slinky black dress that I've only worn on a few occasions. I'm going this year, which is one step better than last year. And I'm looking forward to it, because it means spending time with Kristin, Emily, Catherine, Kraigor, Sach-meister, and Krish, as well as others. Mostly, it's unlimited booze until midnight, with snacks to top it off. So, it's probably worth the $35 ticket.

Anywho, this will conclude this edition of blogging. It was boring, I know. I'm sorry to make you suffer through it without adding any funny antics or adventures. There will be a next time, though, and I promise it will be less spaced out than last!

2009-02-18T00:43:00.003-05:00

Things overheard while studying at Duderstadt Center late on a Tuesday night:

I thought "lemma" was a name of, like, some dude who figured this out.

Also amusing: leaving Duderstadt tonight, I saw an undergrad wearing shorts. At 1 a.m. It's above freezing, sure, but barely. Put on some pants!

Ah, undergraduates.....

People of the world today, are we looking for a better way of life

2009-02-07T08:33:00.003-05:00

One thing I find at least slightly amusing is the fact that Ann Arbor's population is 114,024, yet there are 120,895 people registered in the Ann Arbor, MI network on Facebook. College town!

this is the definition of my life, lying in bed in the sunlight

2009-01-19T22:33:00.003-05:00

Summary of my life as it stands...

The semester is underway like whoa. It took me about three seconds of one class to realize that it's not going to be an easy one. It's Week 2 of school and I have four homework assignments and a bunch of reading due. Today, when I wasn't in class, I was in meetings concerning the direction of our laboratory stuff.

I'm taking the following classes: Virus Diseases, Molecular Epidemiology, Vaccines in Public Health, Genomics in Public Health, Geographic Information Systems, my Capstone Project course, and a Cancer Prevention Symposium. Molecular Epid is, by far, the most demanding course I'm taking, with homework due every class period, on top of a bunch of reading and a very large group project coming up. We will see how the other ones treat me. The Cancer Prevention course is probably the most interesting so far, though it only meets once a week. However, our last lecture was on lead toxicity, which wasn't really related to cancer but was still shown to be a huge problem, especially in the developing world.

Winter League ultimate starts up this Friday and runs for a couple of months, and my friends and I are trying to get together every so often because we've all been so busy this year and want to see each other as much as possible before we all ship out of here. So, that's the fun stuff going on.

As for fun-work stuff, there's plenty! I've got my name on my first publication that's due to be published in Environmental Health Perspectives sometime within the next couple of months. Also, we're working on a second publication that will be submitted to Science shortly. We're also hoping to get a couple more projects underway, so it's possible that I may have my name on a third. Lab is pretty great, and is going to keep me busy for the next few months!

I feel this post is all-business, so maybe I should skip to some fun stuff. Here's a picture of me devouring a gingerbread man at my favorite St. Paul bakery, Jerabek's, over winter break.

And, well, how about that new president that's being inaugurated tomorrow?!?!?!?! :)

2009-01-15T07:35:00.002-05:00

School should be optional when it's this cold... Brrrrr!!!!

And I welcome you to Detroit City; I said welcome to Detroit City

2009-01-11T17:06:00.003-05:00

Today, I found myself defending Michigan in a conversation. I realized that just because I love Minnesota, doesn't mean I can't have pride in my current state of residence.

Detroit.

A picture's worth a thousand words.

Here I am; rocked you like a hurricane.

2009-01-09T13:08:00.004-05:00

My band, Novia, totally rocked out the venues. I have completed my Medium-Level Guitar Hero Tour (in Guitar Hero 1), and have completed 4 songs on "Hard" and 2 on "Expert." I know. I am pretty spectacular.

I am only a Medium Guitar Hero. Soon enough, I will be a full Guitar Hero. And, yes, I sign autographs.

Come on ride the train, hey, and ride it

2008-12-22T17:20:00.003-05:00

I somehow made it back to MN. Somehow. I'm not exactly sure how it happened.

Let's just say, I don't know that I will ever be taking the train again. Or at least not past Chicago. And definitely not in the winter.

After getting stuck on the tracks somewhere between Battle Creek and Chicago because the switches were frozen, we managed to get stuck in Union Station for eight hours. Yes. Eight. This would have been fine had Union Station been more than about 6 degrees Fahrenheit. I ran all over the place and managed to find myself a cup of hot chocolate while the three of us were waiting for the train to even be taken out of the yard! We had some Pizza Hut for lunch. J and D had a few beers. We played around on the internet. We observed a short black man yelling at a white woman for looking at his MySpace page to which he actually said, "Fear my race, bitch." I was a little afraid that we might have to diffuse the situation when he started talking about hitting her. I'm not really sure what their deal was. Maybe they just enjoy role-playing in crowds...

Anyway... We finally left Chicago at 830 and immediately opened a bottle of wine. The three of us split it and hung out for a bit, before D asked if I wanted to go look for food (J had eaten a second meal before we left Union Station).

So, we couldn't find any food so, instead, we opened up another bottle of wine (we packed well, as you can see). Dean and I proceeded to drink and discuss life and stuff for many hours. Somewhere in the middle of the night, on our third bottle of disgusting wine, we started polling the club car about their views on gay marriage, which got pretty interesting being that Dean's gay and we were sitting next to a bunch of conservatives.

Eventually we made it back to our seats to fall asleep but, um, it was so cold! I think I dozed off for a few minutes somewhere between Tomah and LaCrosse. After Dean got off in Winona, I woke J up to go sit in the club car so that we wouldn't get harassed for not getting off in Winona like we were supposed to. We made it to the Twin Cities at 5:30, after my parents were already up for the day.

So, to summarize: trains are cold and late, but a good way to waste time is by drinking wine.

2008-12-20T02:24:00.000-05:00

No worries. I iz. I'm caught up in Grand Rapids with Dean and Juggles for now, but we're on our way.

But when you go you'd better beware / 'cause you can tresspass anywhere

2008-12-12T13:59:00.007-05:00

Things that are strange include not knowing where in the world I will be come May.

Llama llama duck!

2008-12-11T18:12:00.003-05:00

I'm obsessed with pandas lately.

Look how cute they are!

Lights, camera, action / I think I'm going for it this time

2008-12-06T23:02:00.003-05:00

Two down, three to go. Classes, that is. I finished up genetic epidemiology and hospital epid last week. Home stretch: one week, two days to go.

This weekend's a bit of craziness... So far I've written one paper, completed my part of study guide questions, and started another paper. Monday means handing in two papers and taking a test (which I plan to study for tomorrow, assuming I can get this bacteriology paper done tonight)! Then I hope to make it to my friend's thesis defense in the afternoon before I start my social epid paper at night, then start studying for my mechanisms of bacterial pathogensis test. Those are both due the following Monday, but I guarantee the week will not contain much free time -- the test entails memorizing approximately 150 pages of text.

After all the classes are finished, I will have a few days before departing for my magical mystery tour of the Midwest. Dean, Juggles, and I are heading to Grand Rapids for a few days before we hop the Amtrak to Minnesota, where we'll be until the 30th. Then we hit Chicago for the New Year.

I was reflecting on the idea of already being close to ringing in the new year, and was going to type, "2009 will be a year filled with many changes." Then I began thinking back upon the last few years and realizing I've undergone a lot of changes in a short amount of time. But I seem to have really taken them in stride -- though some were definitely easier than others. Coming to Ann Arbor was a great decision for me -- I've really enjoyed my program of study, as well as all of the people I've met. It's so strange to think it'll all be over soon... At least the school part of "it."

And then?

Stay tuned for more... Because not even I know what the script for the sequel will be like.

Don't let your life pass you by, weep not for the memories.

2008-12-03T21:54:00.003-05:00

My Thanksgiving was great, thanks for asking. It was a small one this year, with only 8 of us around the dinner table, but it was sure nice to see my cousin Jesse and meet her b/f.

Most of my weekend at home, admittedly, was spent either writing a 25-page paper or procrastinating about doing so. I ended up missing out on seeing some of my friends, which was quite unfortunate.

The one fun outing I did allow myself was the Henry Sibley High School Class of 1998 Ten Year (gas) Reunion up at Sweeney's. Beforehand, Kevin, Shaun, Beth and I went up to Boca Chica to enjoy some delicious Mexican goodness to gain some energy before we embarked on our journey down memory lane. The reunion itself, was A-OK. I was glad to see some of my old friends and classmates.

Here are some pictures I stole from Beth's Facebook.

The dance girls: Alicia, Alesha, Beth, Shannon

Alicia and Shauntastic

And one I stole from Kelly's Facebook.

Alicia and Jaime

All in all it was a good time. My parents even sent me home with a wonderful present of the stomach flu, which I noticed sometime late Monday night as I was projectile vomiting. I spent all of Tuesday in bed and retreated from my shell today where I could function for brief periods of time. The one big issue here is the fact that I have waaaaaay too much to do to waste time sleeping!

So, since I'm actually awake right now, I should probably get to the studying for the tests and the writing of the papers and that stuff.

Never gonn give you up, never gonna let you down, never gonna run around and desert you

2008-11-28T19:23:00.003-05:00

Best Part of Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade:

Cartoon Network just Rick Rolled a nation, ladies and gentlemen. Classic. They're my heroes.

Hava nagila ve nis'mecha

2008-11-22T19:04:00.002-05:00

In recognition of being a month from Hanukkah, I present you with the absolute worst "Hebrew" videos of all times for the song favorited by both you and me.... Hava Nagila

WTF Slut Hava Nagila...

Indian Hava Nagila
(I think they stole their dance from MC Hammer)

A Hard Day's Hava
(just wait for the old lady to toss her panties on stage...)

Hand fart Hava Nagila

Meet me at the altar in your white dress / we ain't gettin' no younger, we might as well do it

2008-11-20T23:40:00.003-05:00

There's been a lot of controversy surrounding the gay marriage issue over the last few years. As you most likely know, Prop 8 just passed in California, changing the State Constitution to define marriage as an act between a man and a woman, thus overriding the decision made earlier in the year about the Supreme Court.

I found the following graph helpful in explaining the consequences of gay marriage. I think it paints a very clear picture as to why Prop 8 passed in California.

Wait... why did Prop 8 pass?

I live in America with a pair of Payless shoes / The Upper Peninsula and the television news

2008-11-17T11:03:00.003-05:00

Michigan's Upper Peninsula is a diverse society of people. I've gathered that there is some sort of disconnect between the UP and the "hand" that is the rest of Michigan. Of course, this disconnect also seems to be between the UP and Wisconsin. I'm not really sure why that is. Nonetheless, from my nonextensive travels in the UP, I have gathered that Yoopers are fairly conservative small-town folk who have a strong affinity for the Green Bay Packers, shooting forest animals, and eating pasties.

That being said, I'm currently eating chocolate in the shape of the UP, thanks to my favorite Jonathan who brought it back for me last time he was up in Escanaba. Be it a Yooper bar or Macinac Island Fudge, the UP is okay in my book for its production of chocolate and sweets.

We fail to represent, we fail to be content, we fail at everything we ever even try to attempt

2008-11-12T21:34:00.005-05:00

Juggles and I were hanging out for a few minutes before he headed to class and I to the library. He made mention that it seems that everything that we perceive as stable turns to chaos, while everything we think is up-in-the-air usually ends up having a logical pattern. He started talking about his summer -- school, women, work, and frisbee -- drawing examples of both the chaos and the calm from the various subjects.

For some reason, his mention of the chaos and calm triggered a great fear into me of "What Happens Next?" I don't know why it hit me so hard today, but it was a reminder that this graduate school phase is so volatile. We all are here together, then suddenly we are not. Once you start getting comfortable, it's torn out from under you.

Of course I have some ideas of what I'd like to do and where I'd like to go at the end, but it's entirely possible that the economy will be so bad that I'll have to move back in with ma' and pa' because a) there will be no jobs for me, and b) little money will be given to research, thus putting a damper on PhD funding.

So, I walked Juggles to class, fairly silently as I was processing this stuff. Then I had my head tipped down as I was walking toward the Diag when I suddenly felt an arm hard in my stomach. It was Steve passing by on his way home from lab. He scared the crap out of me. The thing with Steve is that he's flighty and filled with laughter, but somehow still solid -- making his opinion worth a lot. He somehow has this way of clearing my mind, even when he doesn't know there's something on it. I'm glad I've gotten to know him over the past 6 months. I told him what was on my mind in small detail, and he somehow worked his Steve magic by mocking me and whatever. Walking away, I continued my thought process, realizing that it's really not worth freaking out about now... There's nothing I can really do.

I arrived at the library and knew what had to happen. Before I started writing my presentation, I had to listen to the following song... Because it always makes thinking about the future a little bit easier, and reminds me of home.

I’m on fire and now I think I’m ready to bust a move
Check it out I’m rocking steady
Go!

Betty won’t stop listening to modern rock
How she hates to be alone
I try to compensate her lack of love with coffee cake
Ice cream and a bottle of ten dollar wine she says hey
I rock the Haro sport
I rock the cow girl blues
I rock too fast for love I’m footloose in my Velcro shoes
What’s up with Will and Grace?
I don’t get drum and bass
The future freaks me out

I’m on fire and now I think I'm ready to bust a move
Check it out I’m rocking steady
To the beat in my head
It goes oh, oh-oh-oh
I know that she’s the only one
I’d rather waste our time together
Yeah, ‘cause we can get down

Betty can’t quit carving question marks in my wrist
How come we’re so alone
We waste away the days with nicotine and television samples
From an era we hate to admit we embrace
We fail to represent
We fail to be content
We fail at everything we ever even try to attempt
And so the story goes
As only Betty knows
It’s time to take control
(Get Down)

I’m on fire and now I think I'm ready to bust a move
Check it out I’m rocking steady
To the beat in my head
It goes oh, oh-oh-oh
I know that she’s the only one
I’d rather waste my time with her

Betty, I need you
I miss you
I’m so alone without you
To call up on the weekends with my cellular phone

Betty it’s so hard to relate
To the whole human race
I don’t know where to begin
I don’t know where to begin
If we can both find a way
To do the things that we say
We might not sit in our rooms
And drink our daydreams away
Betty, I’m a dreamer
I’m not a vicious schemer
Oh Betty won’t you.. ah fuck it

I’m on fire and now I think I'm ready to bust a move
Check it out I’m rocking steady
To the beat in my head
It goes oh, oh-oh-oh
I know that she’s the only one
I’d rather waste our time together
Yeah, ‘cause we can get down.

Motion City Soundtrack, "The Future Freaks Me Out"

Rah rah rah for ski-u-mah.... ?

2008-11-08T15:41:00.003-05:00

One positive thing is that Michigan finally won another football game. Unfortunately, it was against Minnesota.

im in yur pollz, votin' fer change.

2008-11-04T09:26:00.003-05:00

Happy Election Day! One hopes this day will end in joy.

That aside, I am writing this post to report my newfound love for all-things pumpkin-flavored. Ever since Geoff got pumpkin pancakes at IHOP a couple of weeks ago, I've wanted to seek out such delight for my own meal. However, time has been an issue. So, this morning, I bought a pumpkin pie latte. Let me tell you: delicious! MmmMm!

Sweet surrender / is all that I have to give

2008-10-29T12:47:00.001-04:00

If I ever get hitched, I'm getting my cake from Cake Noveau.

Check out some of these designs!

I'd have to get hitched in an art gallery in order for those cakes to fit in. That's a whole lotta MmMmmmmmMmmm!

I believe I can fly; I believe I can touch the sky....

2008-10-28T17:20:00.002-04:00

Two things.

After many years of experimentation and observation, I have deduced that it is absolutely impossible to look "cool," "slick," or even "normal" while running with your backpack on.
Genetics is a great field that everyone in my generation should be interested in if, for the only reason, because there is a gene called Sonic Hedgehog (that regulates many aspects of embryonic development). There is also a protein called Pikachurin that is named after a Pokemon character. Also, of note, is a transposon (a "jumping gene" that moves around the genome) named after Michael Jordan -- the Jordan transposon. Yes, peers, genetics is cool.

Your love is like a rollercoaster, baby baby, I wanna ride....

2008-10-27T00:14:00.003-04:00

Sometimes it's difficult to explain ourselves to older generations. I think my parents look at my generation, in general, as immature and lacking work ethic. But, I believe that's truly because we are the MTV generation. We're the video game generation. We maybe didn't have as much expected of us while we were growing up as other generations because we were playing sports or learning the violin or away at summer camp while our parents were busy working. But we learned to bask in leisure, much like other generations learned to get their butt in gear working... because we had to!

Anyway, the above cartoon summarizes falling in love... for my generation. Give us women/men with playpen balls 3' deep in their living rooms, and we will give them our hearts and souls!

The chemicals between us / the walls that lie between us / lying in this bed that chemicals displaced

2008-10-22T13:17:00.002-04:00

So, bisphenol-A (BPA) is a huge deal, right? It's in pretty much all of the plastics you use, especially as food and beverage containers, as well as dental sealants. Heating and cooling of the molecules releases carcinogens. BPA is associated with diabetes, liver enzyme disorders, and CVD. (See, September 2008 JAMA. We're currently doing some research on its association with polycystic ovarian disease, and it's thought to be associated with many other endocrine and metabolic disorders.

The good news is that Nalgene, maker of my favorite 32 oz colorful water bottles, has a new product -- the Everyday bottle -- made of Eastman Tritan copolyester, which can be thrown in the dishwasher or microwaved, heated, cooled, all that great stuff. So, I bought two -- a blue one and a red one. Because, quite frankly, I keep Nalgene bottles everywhere -- in lab, in my backpack, in my frisbee bag, and at home.

Yea Nalgene!

2008-10-17T09:29:00.002-04:00

Midterms are in full swing. Yikes! Wish me luck.

Happy birthday yesterday, Kevin. And happy birthday today, Mom!

Last weekend. Grand Haven.

Talkin' blues, talkin' blues; they say your feet is just too big for your shoes

2008-10-05T11:30:00.002-04:00

I have about a gazillion little things to catch up on over the weekend since I don't have a lot of free time during the week. This said, I also like to have a chance to go and hang out with friends, as well, since I also don't see many of my friends now that our HME classes are separate from the General Epid and IH students.

So, yesterday was a huge errand day. Sure, I could have gotten more accomplished than I did, but I also wanted to do a few things to decompress and relax. This meant that today, Sunday, is my busy day. I gave myself an approximate schedule and even set my alarm this morning so I could get up and get moving. My first stop was the laundry room to deposit two loads of laundry in the washer, then I planned on coming up immediately to start the ruggelach dough (I decided I wanted to try my hand at making chocolate ruggelach, and decided this weekend was a good time for it). From there, homework, some cleaning, some more laundry, frisbe, dinner with Juggles, more homework, and eventually bed (preferably sometime before midnight).

So, stop one. Laundry room. Throw some clothes in the washer and, as I'm about to go upstairs, this man who is down there at the dryer goes, "So, how about that $700 Billion bailout?" This justifies a response, I guess, even though it's over and done with so why bother to bitch too much. So I say something to the effect of, "Yeah, unfortunate, isn't it?" BAD FREAKING MOVE! Apparently this warrants a 40 minute conversation, probably 35 minutes of which was the crazy man, speaking about how it's the people's faults and they shouldn't have taken out the money and going off about everything from California finances and how wrong any slightly socialist reform (welfare, etc) is in his mind. I was livid for a short while and threw my two cents in until I realized that I had an agenda and grew annoyed with this man's inability to shut the heck up. I mean, sure, he made some decent points but, being a Native American, he maybe shouldn't bitch about the welfare system and maybe should pay attention to the fact that no, 7-year olds do NOT make choices about their education, their parents do. Yadda yadda. Free will and capitalism and all that BS.

He eventually sensed my growing annoyance and left me alone, as my washer cycle was drawing to a finish anyway.

Lesson: I need to learn graceful tactics to escape awkward situations like such.tg

Money, it's a crime / Share it fairly but dont take a slice of my pie.

2008-09-24T20:46:00.002-04:00

Over the last few decades, women have started to take over the sciences. There are still some fields that are heavy in the Y-chromosomes -- certain engineering specialties mostly, maybe physics -- but, women have really made a huge break into fields like biology, chemistry, and even math.

Though it's clear that there are a lot more higher degrees granted to women nowadays, where have all the men gone?

Business school.

Really, when you think about it, it's a good place for the Type A men-breed who were formerly obsessed with the status and fame related to inventions and such in science. B-school creates men of power and leadership who are destined to make a ton of money. Also, it seems like they don't have to work nearly as hard for it. They just have to wear their Striped Shirts, carry around their two thousand dollar laptops (more power than they will ever need) in their leather briefcases, drive their ~~Audis~~ Beamers, and be willing to shell out $60K a year (in-state) for tuition to one of the top B-Schools in the nation.

My very educated mother just served us nine pizza pies

2008-09-12T10:21:00.003-04:00

Yup. Happened to me. Well, not that, specifically, but something similar. Probably involving something else scientific. Maybe ending in a breakup, mutual end to an otherwise good friendship, sumo suit throwdown, or reason to put scorpions in someone's bed because they just don't think right.

Just sayin', this science stuff is serious.

Trickle down pollution, patriarchies reallign / while the ice caps melt and New Orleans bides her time

2008-08-05T23:07:00.003-04:00

Airline least likely to get my business today...

Come senators, congressmen, please heed the call / Don't stand in the doorway, don't block the hall

2008-07-29T09:14:00.005-04:00

Congress will ban phthalates in children's' toys, but not in regular household items? They're everywhere, man. So, even if they're not in your WALL-E action figure, they're still in your plastic WALL-E cup. Drink up, babies. Enjoy your cancers, moms and pops.

these are your shoes / these are my shoes / we've got issues

2008-07-14T01:41:00.006-04:00

So, I, uh, ordered new cleats finally. Without trying them on. Luckily, the website I ordered them from has free shipping and return service.

Instead of getting the Adidas Predators like I had originally planned, I settled on a sexy pair of Diadoras. The reviews tout comfort and support, and that the shoes become broken in instantly. That's a lot to live up to.

Meet Maracana:

The great thing about it is they should be arriving this week, so maybe I'll get to try them out at Wednesday's practice... I'll be a little sad to retire my Nike Air Legends. But, they need to go to cleat heaven soon...

Lastly, and related, I rejoined the UPA for the first time since 2001. Now I can play UPA sanctioned tournaments... such as Motown Throwdown at the end of the month!

And I want to find you when something good happens

2008-07-10T12:47:00.003-04:00

Being an adult rocks for at least one reason:

I can buy myself an entire pie, eat it directly out of the pie tin, and eat it for lunch if I want!

Other things:

Drama in your late 20s is really obnoxious compared to when you're 19.
My parents are coming to visit at the end of the month
I'm going to Chicago to play Sandblast next weekend. I will get to see some of my frisbee friends from MN while there.
Lab is still great. I'm working on bisulfite converting our samples from Mexico City this week.
Kraig moved to an apartment in Kerrytown, so I'm alone for the rest of the summer. We miss each other.
Went to Chicago with Linds a couple of weeks ago and had a marvelous time. I miss my BFF!

Lots more going on, of course, but I have to get back to lab!

Forgive but don't forget, girl keep your head up

2008-07-02T00:06:00.003-04:00

Found in the bottom of an envelope of stuff from Mom:

Gemini (May 21-June 21). You're certainly on a path, though it may not have a particular order or make sense to anyone but you. You don't have to explain yourself -- even to yourself. Just keep picking up the next thread and following it.

Reading that tonight made me breathe a sigh of relief for some reason. It's been a crazy, yet lighthearted despite occasional heaviness, summer. I've kept my head up. Boys confuse me, but that's okay. Growing older, I am so apprehensive because I've met so many guys who have such horrible potential, even when it's not expected. Turn your head for a moment, and they could turn on you. Yes, this sort of distrust has been formed over my 28 years. But, meh, it's okay.

I'm enjoying my friends. I'm enjoying Ann Arbor in the summertime. I'm enjoying my lab work. I love being around SPH. I have a wonderful roommate. I'm enjoying playing a lot of frisbee. I'm loving the laughter, the nights out, the drinks, the random conversations with new friends... Really, despite certain small doubts, I've learned to keep my head up and breathe a sigh of relief throughout life.

I've gone to Chicago twice this month, and will be there again in a few weeks. I went to NYC. My parents are planning a trip out here. I'm planning on going home for a bit.

It's all life. And life's not so bad. I'll post some pictures next, perhaps.

I'll do graffiti if you sing to me in French / What are we doing here if romance isn't dead

2008-06-20T10:26:00.004-04:00

A few shots of my favorite graffiti in NYC.

You and I must make a pact / We must bring salvation back

2008-06-10T10:25:00.002-04:00

It was autumn... Or was it spring?
It was a season, anyhow. The kind that echoes in the beauty of uncertainty.
The scent in the air is change, and the wind speaks it around you, through whispers to howls.
I guess, what I'm saying, is that it was just a day. Like every other day.
The kind with schedules that never quite work precisely, and tasks that never get fully accomplished. With doldrums turned to excitement, or bliss turned to frenzy.
Around every corner is a ghost, a demon, an angel, or a clown.
There was a boy, like every boy. The ones like you date in high school or college. The kind who haven't quite figured out how to be a man yet, but think they have.
The kind that take their permanent markers and sketch their initials all over your soul, just like they mark their book bags with their favorite band names -- not thinking, just doing, because it means something to them right then and there, and they think it will forever. And maybe, in a way, it will.
In this season of any season, on this day like every day, with this boy like every boy, I found love. Maybe it was love like any love, but I sure thought it was extraordinary love. And maybe this love un/like any love was to be forever. Or maybe, just like every other girl, I just thought so.
Anyway you have it, there was a day in a season, and I was a girl in love with a boy. If anything is eternal from that scenario, it will at least be the memory of the feeling of the moments when he kissed me or those when he looked into my eyes and told me how true he was and would be forever.
Our idea of "forever" changes as we grow up. When we were kids we thought forever might be until we were 10, and when we we were 18 we may have thought it would be until we were 30. Now, at close to 30, I know that nothing may be forever, except change. But the one thing constant about change is the memories that fluctuate through, whose weight may be heavy as iron or light as feathers, but always will be carried in this briefcase in our minds. It's hard to regret things we thought might be forever.
Because, in reality, the memories truly are, ensuring that the time we call "forever" will be somehow reached between us, whether we're holding hands or just holding hearts.

I want to be a part of it, in old New York

2008-06-07T12:40:00.002-04:00

I went to NYC over the last weekend of May. It was awesome.

A toast to Manhattan

Brooklyn Bridge

Who said you need a garden gnome?

Saint Anthony, Little Italy

A healthful breakfast in Little Italy

Crepe, almost ready for my consumption

Eagerly awaiting my pineapple-strawberry-nutella crepe

More later!!!