Random updates

So another week of me being a bum has passed and so time for some updates.

Work-- My boss was out last week and today our amazing wonderful lab manager is out. Its been chaos. I want to go back to my nice little world of just supervising myself and my college intern. He's actually done next Thursday-- so this week has been a bit of a scramble to get his data all together and get him ready to present it at the poster symposium. In other news... his mom makes a damn good chocolate cake. The moistest (is that a word??) cake I have ever had. Not too sweet, and then dusted in cocoa. YUM. Its like a cross between a mousse and a cake-- served chilled. YUM YUM YUM. We have been begging for the recipe... and as soon as she translates it out of French... It will be mine. I will try and share!

Home-- My kitchen floor is all done, complete with thresholds and all that kinda stuff. I can finally go in my kitchen barefoot. I also finally got a doorbell button too--- no more touching the bare wires together to signal guests or anything. Plus its easier to pick on the Murph now... the doorbell drives him bonkers.

Tadpole-- Not too much news on that front. My stomach's still not so happy with me-- and well, that kinda is depressing. Its been 3 weeks since I have cooked anything more involved than buttered noodles. And for me, that's just sad. I just have no interest in food. Oh... and one big food aversion is making itself VERY clear. Craig and his love for pepperoni being what it is, its a BIG problem. Seriously one whiff of that stuff and I could have happily thrown him and his "pepperoni quesadilla" out the window last night. ugh. Never had that response before. Craig thinks I am really nuts. Other than that though, Craig's being a really good sport with my being under the weather. I was complaining that I wasn't doing anything "useful" and his response was that sure I was, I was growing our baby. So that was sweet of him. He's also been willing to run out for whatever kind of food I mention I might possibly feel hungry for pretty much whenever I ask-- so he's been spoiling me. I've really been a lazy bum though-- I make it too work and then get home eat a little and go to bed... I don't remember the last time I went to bed at 7 every night!

Things here are good, its blazingly hot-- I want fall to get here already-- then I can get some work done around the house without suffering from heat stroke and we can get started on cleaning out and decorating the Tadpole's room.

Congrats to Mom on her latest triathalon finish! She cut 6 minutes off of her previous best swim time!! Great job!

Introducing the Tadpole!

So, if the title change for the blog and then the picture didn't give it away-- Here's the big announcement-

Craig and I are expecting a new family member-- sometime in early March. I am about 8 weeks pregnant and got my first picture of the Tadpole this morning. I have scanned it in here in all its grainy glory to share with the world.

For those confused by the picture, the baby is the grayish blob inside the blackish blob-- its kinda got a line going through it, that is from the measurements the doc did today-- and is only a part of the computer processing. I am happy to report that the Tadpole is currently about 13.9 mm long (for those not into metric-- thats somewhere around a 1/2 inch) -- and that puts them right on schedule as far as growth and all that.

We also got to "see" the babies heartbeat. Granted it was only about 3 pixels on the little screen-- but they were flickering like crazy-- Apparently the flickering worked out to 150 beats/minute which is I am told just dandy and right where it should be.

So all seems well with the Tadpole! Craig and I are thrilled, both sets of parents and siblings are excited and well... things are pretty darn great!

So I will apologize for the lapse in posting, but I have been feeling kinda lousy (whoever named it "morning" sickness should be hung up by their ears from the rafters -- its more like all day any-- anytime-- don't even think about eating that sickness) Also, posting about normal day-to-day stuff while I knew this seemed kinda weird, but I wasn't ready to share yet. I wanted some more reassurance that everything was going well. And while there are no guarantees-- everything today looked just as it should-- so we decided it was time to spill. (Plus my Mom wants the pictures!) We actually found out we were expecting the same day I got my new station wagon-- so I've been sitting on this secret for a little while now. So please excuse my bad blogger-ness over the last few weeks, I will try and be better-- and they promise that I will soon regain control over my own stomach so that should help too!

New Favorite line of all time

Without spoiling a single tidbit of the book, I have a new favorite line.

"She is nuttier than squirrel poo"

I got the book just after 1 am... finished same day about 6:45 am. Made Craig drive home from the store and all so I could read. :::: sigh::: No more new Potter books. But I did enjoy it!

Hope you are enjoying it too. I will discuss plot stuff on here someday when I think more people will have already finished.

Post #101

I have again been a lousy blogger this last week... my only excuse is well... I'll share next week maybe, but really its pretty much that I am house sitting for a coworker and have no internet at night-- also, her being away means I have to deal with all the nonsense in the lab that comes up. (Where is the _____? Can I mix Acid and Chlorine?? etc)

I ran out at lunch today to get to borders and get my wristband for the big event. The Grand Hallows Ball tonight. I am in the second batch of people to get my book, which means I should definitely have it before 1 am!!!! YAY! OK, so no sleep for me tonight until I finish. And if you are confused as to what I am referring to-- well, you must be blind, deaf, and have buried your head in the sand for the last few weeks because tonight of course is the big release for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I can't wait... only 8 hours and 10 minutes left!!!!!!!!!

So tomorrow when I have slept some, and recovered a bit. I will reenter the world-- hopefully not mourning the loss of Harry (please please please let harry, hermione, and ron at least live... oh, and Hagrid... and well, all the weasleys (except percy-0-- he's dispensable)-- and well... yeah... I hope no one really like gets killed, but I know JK Rowling is going to kill off someone important.)

In related news, Craig and his Dad have been working on my kitchen floor this past week-- so I will hopefully come home soon to a nice finished kitchen!!! I'll share some pics as soon as the floor is done.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (the movie!)

So last night Craig decided he would take me on a date (crazy boy that one) to see the latest edition in the HP movie series. We got to the local movies early (about 30 minutes before the show) even though we had bought tickets earlier in the day to be sure we got a seat-- and I am glad we did. The place was PACKED-- jam packed. The movie finally begins-- and other than questioning how some people were raised (the 30+ woman behind me with the dry crackly feet who thought the head rest of the seat in front of her was the place to put her nasty feet-- the 17 year olds behind me who giggled and chatted and looked at their glaringly bright cell phones every 2 minutes etc) most of the audience was pretty good. (and thankfully QUIET!)

The movie got going, and not 20 minutes in, the film starts to skip-- the bottom half of the picture was on the top half of the screen and all-- it was just unpleasant to watch. Eventually someone in the audience (after ~3-5) minutes of this got up and went to find an employee to fix it, they did and then 45 minutes later it happened AGAIN. Same result-- a person on an end eventually went out and asked for it to be fixed. The film also went blurry a few times and the sound level was poorly managed. After the movie let out, I went to find the manager. I was pretty displeased that for the crazy price of movie tickets, they could not have someone to WATCH the projectors to be sure they worked. I know when Grammam worked at the movies when I was little and we used to "help" that someone was usually up there to keep an eye on it all. So I explained to the manager that this was unreasonable and I was unhappy with the theater. She tried to get out of it for about 2 seconds and then asked if we wanted a refund. Well yes, thank you I would-- but I would rather have not had my movie repeatedly disrupted! She gave us back the money we had paid for the tickets and we left the theater. Craig's comment on the whole thing "I should take you out more often, you're a cheap date!".


Now, on to my thoughts on the movie itself--
I enjoyed it, I found it better than Prisoner of Azkaban on details-- and a good bit more accurate on plot than the goblet of fire movies-- so that was a nice surprise. I was disappointed in the scenes selected to be cut from the film-- some of my favorite parts of the book were missing. As always-- the movie did not explain everything as fully as the book-- and took a few other liberties-- but I think the general plot was pretty close to the book. I was sad to see the fight scene clipped at the end-- but I understand not everyone wants to sit through a 6 hour HP movie like I would (crazy folks out there apparently some of them have LIVES!?!?!) Umbridge is delightfully evil and bureaucratic-- and very very pink. Really a scream. Kreacher gets cut out a lot, which is kinda sad-- he was funny in the book.

So overall-- I would give the movie a 3/5 on accuracy to the book, but I would rate it a 4 or maybe a 4.5 out of 5 in terms of fun and enjoyable movie. So go on, go see HP#5-- its fun, exciting and a little spooky.

HP #5 Movie Tonight!

Tonight, traditional wings night will be cancelled as Craig and I head to the movies to catch one of the most awaited summer films-- EVER.

Thats right, the next edition of the HP sequence came out today (and I was asleep! at midnight) so we are off to see it this evening. I can't wait! I have decided that I probably shouldn't dress up as well... the cape and hat might be a little toasty considering the heatwave we are in the middle of. BUT-- I AM SUPER SUPER EXCITED! Plus... LESS than 10 days til Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows comes out... what a great July!!!


Other than that, a slow and somewhat blah day at work--- so I will keep trudging through the afternoon with the happy evening to look forward to.

Oh-- and a good recipe! We had Grilled Pacific Pork Kebabs with Pineapple Rice last night-- pretty tasty, quick, and even made Craig do the cooking! (that's my kind of meal!) This recipe was from Everyday foods. I have been a fan of this magazine for a few months now-- since Claud sent me a subscription. The recipes I have tried have all been pretty good-- and pretty easy-- I would recommend checking this magazine, or at least the website out! (even though it is by nutty martha stewart)

La Torta Final!

(Ok, so that's the last cake)

Our last cake decorating class was this past week. I finally got the pictures today and thought I would share. This is one more example of the everpresent buttermilk cake-- though this time flavored with a little orange blossom water and then soaked with a mandarin orange syrup. This cake was filled with mandarin orange (clementinas in spanish) and frosted with a normal buttercream. We then covered it with fondant and did the fondant drape in the colors of the flag of Spain and then I made a little gumpaste flower to stick on the top. Tada! the last cake for class... so now I just need to get a few cake jobs to make some money with all I have learned!

Ratatouille--

Go see this now. Seriously, leave the computer running, hop in the car and get to the theater now. This movie was GREAT! (plus, with the sweltering heat-- the movies are a perfect place to be!) Craig and I both loved it. The animation is amazing, the plot is funny and its an all around fun movie. At least five times during the movie I thought to myself-- that's not animated, it CAN'T be!

So the only lingering complaint is that I don't know what Ratatouille is or how to make it??!!?! They never got to that part. (well, I know its a "peasant dish" and has zucchini in it?)

New item added to my wish list... my own "Little Chef".

Way to go MOM!

My Mom ran her 5th? 6th? Triathalon this morning in somewhere godforsaken wisconsin they are referring to as "Chicagoland" Beyond the fact that at 50 she is going way faster than and far more dedicated than I am at 25-- its really cool because she's doing GREAT. Seriously, how many people do you know who can swim for 1/2 mile, bike 12 miles, and run 3.1 miles-- nonetheless finish it all in one morning! Mom's time this year was 2 hours 19 minutes and 12 seconds--- pretty darn impressive.

So way to go Mom (and Dad, her coach, cheerleader, driver, and equipment manager!) we are both super proud of you. (and envious of your great committment to fitness and yourself!)


FYI-- these triathalons are run by Danskin and the Susan G Komen Foundation--- they are exclusively for women, and have special oppurtunities for survivors of cancer. They are not run super-competetively-- it is the pride in accomplishment that seems to be the driving force. If you are at all interested, check out more information here!

Ratatouille?

So as if my days are not yet full enough of rodents-- my plan for tonight is to go see the new disney-pixar film

I will try and get a review on here soon. I have heard good things about it, and the clips I saw looked both funny and cute. And well, a mouse who can cook is way way way more cute and exciting than a mouse with a boob job-- well, at least for most people!

Outside of that, I've got some catch up work to do around the house (eg... clean the kitchen and the bathroom!), Craig's got to get the lawn mowed before Murphy gets swallowed by some sort of prehistoric mutant grass, and we've got to get to work on digging out the cellar and the nursery. Stay tuned for more hopefully this weekend.

Tuesday again!

Its tuesday again, and wonderefully I finished work at 1:30pm and WENT HOME!! Yay an early nap! I was up at the crack of dawn (thanks evil noisy neighbors-- will vent on that later) but at least I got my cake baked for class tonight-- so it could be worse!

The weekend visit to my parents was nice-- I got to work at the basket party for the firehouse and Craig got to haul gravel and help reframe the garage. So it was busy and all that, but a nice visit overall. I even finally dropped off my VERY late mother's and father's day presents-- so that was good too. We then hurried home to meet Craig's parents and return the weener-mutt YAY! They hung out for dinner (homemade fajitas-- want the recipe?) and then headed home the next morning.
So we are now down to our normal contingent of pets-- and no poo or puke to be found!

Temporary control of the house has been regained!

A few quick notes

1) We're heading to my parents out in the boonies of western PA for the weekend. Murphy will be run ragged up and down the hill and generally be as happy as a dog can be-- plus he'll get spoiled rotten by my grammam and her never ending peanut-butter bone supply-- he likes visits to my parents. We are taking the weener along--which should be interesting. Tiki is staying here with Kim to check on her... she will also be spoiled rotten.

2) The new car is still behaving wonderfully-- and we are heading out there to show it off!

3) Monday will be a great day cause the weener is GOING HOME!! Jane and Roy are back from Ireland this weekend and will be retreiving her on Monday... YAY!!! That's good for the weener to be back on her normal life and good for me cause there will be no more poo piles or dog fights during the night while I try and sleep.

4) Fourth of July means a day off work! And we have free hersheypark tickets that expire on the 4th--- so we may take an extra day off to do that next week too... should make for a very quick work week.

5) The new microscope is super-duper, and I can work it better than my boss, and he was THRILLED with the results I took yesterday and showed him this morning... so making me look good at work is always a nice bonus-- I think he's convinced to start writing this paper so I can get it out!!!!! (and FINALLY have a first author paper)

I've been slacking

Yes, I have been slacking on the blog. Its mainly the result of the incredibly cool new imaging system that we got in our lab. I have spent more than 8 hours being trained on it-- and the rest of my time playing on it since yesterday morning. It is the neatest thing. It is a microscope that is completely automated... touch a button on the touch screen abd VOILA! your picture. It takes BEAUTIFUL pictures of my glow in the dark mouse boobs! Also, it will take movies! It is a spiffy piece of technology with more buttons, knobs, and adjusters than I know what to do with yet... I will be hiding in the dark a few more days-- and then I promise, I will share some cool pics and be a good blogger and post more again.

Random Science Tuesday (yup, its that time again)

Fake Sugar can give you very REAL cancer-- well, at least if you are a rat.
"Italian researchers published a new study last week that showed aspartame -- widely used in soft drinks -- might cause leukemia, lymphoma and breast cancer in rats."

"The CSPI said the Acceptable Daily Intake of aspartame in the United States is 50 mg per kilogram of body weight, equivalent to a 50-pound (20 kg) child drinking 2.5 cans of diet soda a day, or a 150-pound (68 kilogram) adult drinking about 7.5 cans a day.
The Italian researchers found a cancer risk at the very highest doses -- double the U.S. Acceptable Daily Intake."

So watch out for the aspartame-- don't panic, but start phasing it out.


Cool new lab grown skin grafts actually work!
"To have an off-the-shelf skin replacement product that can be used in large numbers of patients will revolutionize the treatment of burned and skin damaged patients,"
Check it out here!


Darwin would be Sad: Galapagos Tortises Are in Danger (and so are the iguanas, birds, and other various unique creatures)
"The United Nations on Tuesday declared Ecuador's Galapagos islands in danger as booming tourism and immigration threaten giant tortoises and blue-footed boobies unique to the archipelago."

Here's hoping they can get that under control-- cause a trip to the Galapagos is still VERY high on my list of dream trips... (right up there with back to Spain with Craig in tow, and Italy, and Ancient ruins in Greece)

Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My new car! Isn't she pretty.

All in all, a great day yesterday!! We got the Blazer traded in... and miraculously-- it started, and the AC worked and the 4-wheel drive worked when the appraiser was trying it out... and well, I guess the time we spent washing and waxing it on Sunday paid off-- cause they traded it for more than I was hoping for!!!! Yay!

So now the subaru is my car, and it runs nicely and the AC works, and it has a CD player and doesn't seem to drink near as much gas as the Blazer--- so I am overall pretty excited.

Plus it fit my basic car shopping requirements-- It doesn't guzzle gas, has modern safety equipment (eg- air bags and ABS) it would hold a 100lb golden retreiver (Murphy) and will hold a car seat. And as a bonus is has All Wheel drive-- so I am very happy with what I got-- oh and it only cost one arm and part of a leg-- so that was a nice bonus!!!!

Super great day yesterday-- topped off with yummy grilled hot dogs on the spiffy grill-- and even with the good hot dog buns for toasting-- the new england style ones. They toast so much better than the plain ones. YAY!

Introducing my (hopefully) new car!

You can check it out at this site! Assuming I can get the blazer in on Monday to work the trade out, things are all set... well, in this case-- even if they blazer doesn't get traded in, I think we can swing it. I did a pretty darn good job negotiating the price (I am definitely not paying what it is listed at)-- so I am excited!

and its Red!!!

This after test driving every other car in the known universe that was 4 door with a hatchback. Craig is thrilled cause its a subaru like his, and I am excited about the whole 26-32MpG. YAY... and did I mention its Red?!?! And I get a CD player, and I get AC and unlike the blazer lately-- it should start, and its All-wheel drive, and well... I am just really very excited to have a new car!

Stay tuned on Monday for even more excitement!

Weekend ahead

Another week almost over and I can't wait for my weekend. This upcoming week looks to be obnoxiously busy, but between then and now I have 2 whole days off... with no weddings, parties, appointments, or committments. The plan for this weekend-- a little cooking, a little cleaning, and maybe some shopping for a "new" car.

I've been looking around online and now I need to go try out some cars and see what I like. Should be fun-- with the Blazer I never had any choice, it was just presented to me as a take or leave it-- which don't get me wrong, I loved that car-- I just am looking forward to picking something out myself. I am kinda thinking I might like a "hatchback" style this time-- it will offer me some of the things I liked about my blazer-- while being smaller and better gas mileage. We'll have to wait and see what I find.

me and my big mouth

Well, this afternoon, I got myself in trouble. I am participating in a mentoring course this summer and today's topic was DIVERSITY. Ah yes, if there was a topic more likely to cause me to vent my political and personal views it would have to be firearms or taxes. Its a close tie for all three.

Anyway, academia, bastion of far leftist thought that it is, may not have been the smartest place for me to expound on my beleifs. I think I am more worried because the head of my department heard my statements-- and I am pretty sure now thinks I am a member of the KKK. Honestly, nothing could be farther from the truth. I do not ever judge people on the color of their skin, only on the work that they do, the way they treat others, and the honesty in their hearts. Stating this got me into trouble. I take my philosophy to be against afirmative action.

AA judges people first on the color of their skin, not on WHO they are and WHAT they can do. I never want to be judged on different standards than people around me-- not based on my height, weight, ethnicity, family background-- anything. I have NEVER claimed special treatment based on those things (ok, other than a step ladder)-- and I never will. I want to know I am worthy of what I acheive. I think this basic right to know you are due what you acheive and that it was not handed to you unevenly is proper for every person.

I understand that sometimes AA gives people chances they would never have gotten without it, and that sometimes people succeed due to these chances. But I also have seen people use AA to get away with doing less work, use it as an excuse to try less, and use it to get a position and then be unqualified for that position. I think these are all invalid uses for the AA policy. I would much prefer a gender/race blind application process for colleges and jobs. Let the best candidate get the spot end of discussion. All this regulation of what percentage of any student body or office needs to be of each certain ethnicity is frankly ridiculous.

Diversity should be fostered not forced. Diversity takes many forms-- I have friends of different religions, races, politics, upbringing, sexual orientations,money status and who knows what else. I didn't pick them because they were black or lesbian or whatever. I picked them becuase they make good friends.

Why can't academia rely on its oh so touted "colorblindness" to develop diverse student bodies? Why do they have to rely on laws and altered standards??

ok, enough venting. Here's hoping I don't get signed up for sensitivity training or something now. I am not ashamed of how I feel about this stuff... but by now I should have enough self preservation instinct to not spout off in front of professors I know are way way way way far left of me. (Craig by the way, thinks I should have gone further with explaining why AA is not a good plan)

Is it real? Should I believe it???

Someone posted online what the ending to HP#7 is. Is it real? (having read it, I hope not) Granted the person who posted this one says they are doing this to convince people not to read it because the Pope told them that this book is leading young people to paganism--- but still.... I have to wonder if someone somehow really has gotten the ending.

Would you read it if you knew where the ending was?

Can't wait for the book (and the movie)

Woohoo...

WOOHOOO! Look what was in my email box when I got back from seminar!!!
After 2 years with no raises, no cost of living increases, no hope of it ever getting better.... we get a whole extra $500/year. Not wonderful... and not what the keep promising us. But a heck of a lot better than nothing!

"Dear Students,
I am pleased to inform you that graduate student stipends for all full-time PhD students at the COM will be raised 2% for the 2007-2008 academic year to $21,187.
Consistent with the principles established in the past, this stipend will be paid over 12 months as follows:

Fall 2007 - ½ time graduate assistant - grade 16 - $1764.00 per month August through December
Spring 2008 - ½ time graduate assistant - grade 16 - $1764.00 per month January through May
Summer 2008 - wage payroll as graduate lecturer/graduate researcher -$1773.50 per month in June and July

Please remember that your summer wages are subject to tax witholding, so the amount of your summer checks may be slightly less than $1773.50 depending on your personal situation; please budget accordingly.
Dr. Verderame"

(this last part about the taxes pisses me off to no end-- it was changed to be like this under the table with no chance to complain-- just last year)