I should blog more!

But first, to the textbooks! BBIAB!

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.

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.

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

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

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....

I found that amusing. That is all.

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

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

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.

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!

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.

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

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

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

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: