I had an amazing nap. Seriously, all I've done today is eat, sleep and take a shower. Not one ounce of real work, but I am going to tidy my room later so that counts as almost-real work, right?
I got lovely lovely presents yesterday: an awesome leopard-print scarf (I can't decide if it's a scarf or a shawl...it's cuddly either way) from Uncle Luis and Auntie Vera, a hand-made bracelet from Lidia, Amazon gift certificates from Nicky and Steven, adorable little kitty earrings from Mom and Dad, and I used all of Mom and Dad's and Dina's Christmas money for this gorgeous Givenchy necklace that's all coppery-bronze chain and these amazing smokey jewels. It was expensive, but so so so worth it! Now I just need to increase the amount of off-the-shoulder clothing in my wardrobe, because it's the kind of necklace that you have to wear practically off your neck so that it sits right. Pictures will come later.
The crackers Lidia and I found were awesome: there were mini ones imported from England that each had two jokes and a trivia question, plus a tiny silver charm. I got a fish, it was so cute! The big ones we got had toys in them: a teeny die within a bigger, transparent die (so you only have to roll once), a noisemaker, a keychain, a top, a paperclip, a whistle, a fortune-telling fish, and I've forgotten the rest.
The food was great: sugar snap peas, yellow squash, goose, spicy pork, potatoes, red cabbage, veggie lasagna (so yummy!), rice, gravy and for dessert there was chocolate espresso cake and coffee.
Today for lunch we had Pin's eggs and poloni and it was just like I remembered (after I added salt). Mom is thinking about making oxtail stew tomorrow night, so I'm so excited, I haven't had that since last Christmas and it's delicious!
I think today is leftovers and I'm going to load up on goose since I mostly ate pork yesterday and the goose is SO yummy...and I saved the gravy. Actually, I'm hungry. I think I'm going to go snag some now.
Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Friday, December 17, 2010
I Came Home For Christmas
I'm sitting at Gate 3 in the Long Beach Airport, which is teeny and strangely homelike. I know I've traveled a great deal, but the time I've spent in airports is dwarfed ten times over by the time I've spent in airplanes. Why then, do the airports feel so much more like home than an airplane does? Maybe it's the comfort thing.
Anyway, I'm typing this up in word and will eventually upload it to my blog.
I went to bed at 1 am, and got up at 5 am, took out the trash, ate breakfast and shoved last-minute odds and ends into my suitcases and backpacks. I was convinced my suitcases were just on the 50 pound limit so I shoved a ton of stuff into my backpack, which I regret now because it's ridiculously stuffed.
I got a text from the taxi company at 5:48 and hurried downstairs with my bags (which was a bloody pain in the ass) and the taxi arrived just as I was approaching the courtyard's gate. The taxi driver was very nice and interested in archaeology and seemed pleased that I intended to get my PhD. I got to the airport in about ten minutes - $16 cabfare (I really chose a fantastic apartment) – and the taxi driver kindly took my bags out of the back for me and set them on the sidewalk.
I found the JetBlue counter right away and was only in line before a few minutes before they got to me. Both my suitcases were 43 pounds, and I was so psyched it didn't occur to me to open one up and throw those last-minute items back in there so my backpack wouldn't be cram-jammed. Dumb, dumb, dumb! Oh well, I've flown dozens of times with an overfull backpack, I'll survive. P.S. Shoutout to JetBlue for transferring my bags for me!! I love not having to claim and check my bags a million times per journey!...as long as they get there intact and unharmed :)
Security was just as easy except I forgot to take off my shoes – I was too busy wondering if the metal studs on my shirt would set off the sensor – but they didn't. Gate 3 was easy to find and here I am!
It was crowded when I first walked in, but a flight for Seattle and another for Sacramento have left so it's mostly empty now, although other travelers are trickling in. It's on the small side, but with plenty of seats, and a row of comfortable squishy ones along the back wall, which is where I am sitting. I always go to the back wall to scout for outlets. This seat was full earlier, but as soon as the lady sitting in it left I grabbed my stuff and claimed it, so my mini netbook is now plugged in and since my flight is about six hours, it should last the whole flight since it has to be off for takeoff and landing. Muahaha there is a method to my madness! And I'm SO glad I got the six-cell battery even though it was more expensive.
I hear some of the newer, more expensive planes come with outlets for laptops now – just when they've started developing 12 and 15 hour batteries! Oh, the irony.
I love Long Beach Airport, it's so teeny and cute and altogether delightful – although it rained in the night and everything is ridiculously slippery. There are a lot of outdoor walks and you have to walk on the tarmac up to the planes, so I'll have to watch my step, both my knee braces are in my checked luggage. There's even a teeny bar here, with a big black cage full of bottles of wine, and a velvet ropes with a sign saying No Alcohol Beyond This Point. It is a little chilly in here though – I'm wearing my black H&M trench and I haven't taken it off yet.
That's all for now, I'm going to get back to my manuscript. More later!
It is 5:08 pm and I am waiting at Gate B70 because that's where my flight is tentatively scheduled to be, according to the big screens everywhere. We're only scheduled to leave at 8:50 pm so it might still be moved, especially since the flight that's currently at the gate is delayed. WHY I don't know because the plane is sitting RIGHT THERE on the tarmac. Apparently the weather – it's very dark and cloudy but it isn't snowing anymore and we landed just fine on snowy tarmac an hour ago so I can't see why pilots, who fly at night anyway, can't take off in it just fine. And there is a serious heat leak somewhere, it's frigid outside and the cold is seeping in even through the huge, triple-plated windows.
The flight out here was ok. I dozed on and off, watched a little tv (they were broadcasting four different ESPNs, two VH1s, MTV, TNT, A&E, and a dozen more free channels) and also stared out the window. It was only about four hours total of flight, much easier to endure than the 17 to England or 18 to Ethiopia, or 27 to South Africa. Is it 27? It's twenty-something anyway.
From where I've cleverly positioned myself I can see not only the boarding gate screens (when they're not blocked by what seems to be a high school basketball team) but also the big ranks of Arrival and Departure screen. I'm seeing big blocks of yellow on each board – yellow means delayed flight. I'm really starting to wish Lidia could've routed me through Texas, I'm sure it's not snowing THERE.
Flying over all the snowy landscape was fun though. I tried to figure out what was unplowed field and what was lake and why the pine trees on the mountains looked so bare when they're supposed to be evergreen. I even saw PEOPLE as we were taking off and landing which was awesome because I always look for people looking like little colorful ants and I practically never catch sight of any.
After we landed I had lunch at Chipotle and now I'm waiting at the gate. I hope that whatever is stopping this Ft. Lauderdale flight from flying goes away. I want THEM to go away so I can nab one of the seats near the electrical outlet so I can charge up my laptop and use it on the flight. I didn't use it on the last flight because my backpack wouldn't fit under the seat so I had to put it in an overhead and even though I did take my backpack down to get my headphones (otherwise I would've had to pay $2 for an airplane pair!) I didn't feel like fussing around with my laptop. Or I might sleep on the flight again, I sure feel tired enough to do it. I miss having the internet but I'm NOT paying to use it. Absolutely NOT. Are airlines really hurting so badly they have to take away free wifi in the airports? If so, they definitely need to trim some fat!!
My neck is seriously stiff. Too bad I don't fly often enough to invest in one of those neck pillow things. It's completely pitch black outside now, and the chill is worse than ever.
Oh. So the airplane that's chilling here is the OTHER gate that's attached to this one – they're stuck because their pilots are coming from Orlando and they got delayed by storms too. Which is an oops, I hope that storm blows itself out before I have to fly down there. I don't much fancy being delayed with no internet for hours and hours. The flight at this gate should be here in 40 minutes so hopefully these people will all move by 6:50 which is plenty of time for me to plug in.
Ugh, I'm sleepy. I think it's time to power down and stare into space. Or something.
It is now 7:33 pm, and the two delayed flights have left. However, when I went to the counter to check in, it turned out that despite what the boards say, my flight IS delayed – instead of leaving at 8:50 pm it is now probably leaving at 9:41 pm. Ugh, the idea of only getting to Orlando at midnight then home at 1 am is pretty gross. I'm just praying they transfer my luggage okay, I would hate to be without it for even a few days.
Luckily, I, in my infinite wisdom, have an e-book copy of In the High Valley on this laptop and will now settle down to read it. I must remember to download some other free e-books on here for other flights and emergencies.
A girl can't work all the time you know.
New departure time: 10:06. I'm FREEZING!!!
-----
Well I got home safe and sound! JetBlue has this cool thing where they broadcast live tv on their in-flight system so I got to watch ESPN and Friends and fell asleep to a documentary on National Geographic.
Mom met me at the airport and we got home at 1:30 am. Mom fixed me up some dinner and Lidia showed me her portfolio and Echo demanded attention, and then I unpacked. When I opened the suitcase with all the presents out fell a "Notice of Baggage Inspection" - I can't believe they managed to open it without breaking the lock, but I'm glad they didn't break the lock or anything else. I guess they're really serious about liquids now - although you'd think a couple bottles of wine would be pretty innocuous!!
Okay I'm reaaaally sleepy now and I have to get up early tomorrow to clean and cook and stuff so it's bedtime. Goodnight!
Anyway, I'm typing this up in word and will eventually upload it to my blog.
I went to bed at 1 am, and got up at 5 am, took out the trash, ate breakfast and shoved last-minute odds and ends into my suitcases and backpacks. I was convinced my suitcases were just on the 50 pound limit so I shoved a ton of stuff into my backpack, which I regret now because it's ridiculously stuffed.
I got a text from the taxi company at 5:48 and hurried downstairs with my bags (which was a bloody pain in the ass) and the taxi arrived just as I was approaching the courtyard's gate. The taxi driver was very nice and interested in archaeology and seemed pleased that I intended to get my PhD. I got to the airport in about ten minutes - $16 cabfare (I really chose a fantastic apartment) – and the taxi driver kindly took my bags out of the back for me and set them on the sidewalk.
I found the JetBlue counter right away and was only in line before a few minutes before they got to me. Both my suitcases were 43 pounds, and I was so psyched it didn't occur to me to open one up and throw those last-minute items back in there so my backpack wouldn't be cram-jammed. Dumb, dumb, dumb! Oh well, I've flown dozens of times with an overfull backpack, I'll survive. P.S. Shoutout to JetBlue for transferring my bags for me!! I love not having to claim and check my bags a million times per journey!...as long as they get there intact and unharmed :)
Security was just as easy except I forgot to take off my shoes – I was too busy wondering if the metal studs on my shirt would set off the sensor – but they didn't. Gate 3 was easy to find and here I am!
It was crowded when I first walked in, but a flight for Seattle and another for Sacramento have left so it's mostly empty now, although other travelers are trickling in. It's on the small side, but with plenty of seats, and a row of comfortable squishy ones along the back wall, which is where I am sitting. I always go to the back wall to scout for outlets. This seat was full earlier, but as soon as the lady sitting in it left I grabbed my stuff and claimed it, so my mini netbook is now plugged in and since my flight is about six hours, it should last the whole flight since it has to be off for takeoff and landing. Muahaha there is a method to my madness! And I'm SO glad I got the six-cell battery even though it was more expensive.
I hear some of the newer, more expensive planes come with outlets for laptops now – just when they've started developing 12 and 15 hour batteries! Oh, the irony.
I love Long Beach Airport, it's so teeny and cute and altogether delightful – although it rained in the night and everything is ridiculously slippery. There are a lot of outdoor walks and you have to walk on the tarmac up to the planes, so I'll have to watch my step, both my knee braces are in my checked luggage. There's even a teeny bar here, with a big black cage full of bottles of wine, and a velvet ropes with a sign saying No Alcohol Beyond This Point. It is a little chilly in here though – I'm wearing my black H&M trench and I haven't taken it off yet.
That's all for now, I'm going to get back to my manuscript. More later!
It is 5:08 pm and I am waiting at Gate B70 because that's where my flight is tentatively scheduled to be, according to the big screens everywhere. We're only scheduled to leave at 8:50 pm so it might still be moved, especially since the flight that's currently at the gate is delayed. WHY I don't know because the plane is sitting RIGHT THERE on the tarmac. Apparently the weather – it's very dark and cloudy but it isn't snowing anymore and we landed just fine on snowy tarmac an hour ago so I can't see why pilots, who fly at night anyway, can't take off in it just fine. And there is a serious heat leak somewhere, it's frigid outside and the cold is seeping in even through the huge, triple-plated windows.
The flight out here was ok. I dozed on and off, watched a little tv (they were broadcasting four different ESPNs, two VH1s, MTV, TNT, A&E, and a dozen more free channels) and also stared out the window. It was only about four hours total of flight, much easier to endure than the 17 to England or 18 to Ethiopia, or 27 to South Africa. Is it 27? It's twenty-something anyway.
From where I've cleverly positioned myself I can see not only the boarding gate screens (when they're not blocked by what seems to be a high school basketball team) but also the big ranks of Arrival and Departure screen. I'm seeing big blocks of yellow on each board – yellow means delayed flight. I'm really starting to wish Lidia could've routed me through Texas, I'm sure it's not snowing THERE.
Flying over all the snowy landscape was fun though. I tried to figure out what was unplowed field and what was lake and why the pine trees on the mountains looked so bare when they're supposed to be evergreen. I even saw PEOPLE as we were taking off and landing which was awesome because I always look for people looking like little colorful ants and I practically never catch sight of any.
After we landed I had lunch at Chipotle and now I'm waiting at the gate. I hope that whatever is stopping this Ft. Lauderdale flight from flying goes away. I want THEM to go away so I can nab one of the seats near the electrical outlet so I can charge up my laptop and use it on the flight. I didn't use it on the last flight because my backpack wouldn't fit under the seat so I had to put it in an overhead and even though I did take my backpack down to get my headphones (otherwise I would've had to pay $2 for an airplane pair!) I didn't feel like fussing around with my laptop. Or I might sleep on the flight again, I sure feel tired enough to do it. I miss having the internet but I'm NOT paying to use it. Absolutely NOT. Are airlines really hurting so badly they have to take away free wifi in the airports? If so, they definitely need to trim some fat!!
My neck is seriously stiff. Too bad I don't fly often enough to invest in one of those neck pillow things. It's completely pitch black outside now, and the chill is worse than ever.
Oh. So the airplane that's chilling here is the OTHER gate that's attached to this one – they're stuck because their pilots are coming from Orlando and they got delayed by storms too. Which is an oops, I hope that storm blows itself out before I have to fly down there. I don't much fancy being delayed with no internet for hours and hours. The flight at this gate should be here in 40 minutes so hopefully these people will all move by 6:50 which is plenty of time for me to plug in.
Ugh, I'm sleepy. I think it's time to power down and stare into space. Or something.
It is now 7:33 pm, and the two delayed flights have left. However, when I went to the counter to check in, it turned out that despite what the boards say, my flight IS delayed – instead of leaving at 8:50 pm it is now probably leaving at 9:41 pm. Ugh, the idea of only getting to Orlando at midnight then home at 1 am is pretty gross. I'm just praying they transfer my luggage okay, I would hate to be without it for even a few days.
Luckily, I, in my infinite wisdom, have an e-book copy of In the High Valley on this laptop and will now settle down to read it. I must remember to download some other free e-books on here for other flights and emergencies.
A girl can't work all the time you know.
New departure time: 10:06. I'm FREEZING!!!
-----
Well I got home safe and sound! JetBlue has this cool thing where they broadcast live tv on their in-flight system so I got to watch ESPN and Friends and fell asleep to a documentary on National Geographic.
Mom met me at the airport and we got home at 1:30 am. Mom fixed me up some dinner and Lidia showed me her portfolio and Echo demanded attention, and then I unpacked. When I opened the suitcase with all the presents out fell a "Notice of Baggage Inspection" - I can't believe they managed to open it without breaking the lock, but I'm glad they didn't break the lock or anything else. I guess they're really serious about liquids now - although you'd think a couple bottles of wine would be pretty innocuous!!
Okay I'm reaaaally sleepy now and I have to get up early tomorrow to clean and cook and stuff so it's bedtime. Goodnight!
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
I'll Be Home For Christmas
Getting ready for Christmas has been something of a hassle. Oh, Lidia took care of the tickets and Mom and Dad paid for them so that was easy, but the rest of it!
Yesterday I drove 96 miles doing my Christmas shopping and I drove another 5 today finishing it up. Still, it's December 15th and I have all the birthday and Christmas presents of the season so hooray for that! I spent $200 on all of it, but what is a salary for if not for Christmas and birthday presents?
My first stop yesterday was The African Hut in Laguna Niguel and GUESS WHAT? They FINALLY had Peppermint Crisps!!!!!!
They cost $2.48 each but I got six. My salary is earned by sweat and misery and Peppermint Crisps - which I haven't had since last Christmas, and I only had them then thanks to Nicky who sent us some from Canada - are totally worth every penny I paid for them.
I got Mom's wors and Mark's lychee juice (I hope he likes Ceres) as well as a few presents, and the total was a whopping $73!!!!!!!! Luckily, Mom is paying for her own wors so I only spent $46 of my money. And I was very good, I didn't buy any of the lovely Christmas candy, nor a single candy bar that wasn't peppermint crisp. I did buy myself a box of choc-kits but they were on sale for $2 a box so I was quite happy with that. (Think about that for a second, a box of choc-kits is cheaper than a single bar of peppermint crisp!)
They had the loveliest Christmas crackers that seemed to have really nice toys in them but they were horribly expensive so I didn't get them. The cute ones we get from Tuesday Morning pop just as well as those do.
The African Hut was as busy as I've ever seen it, full of Britons and South Africans and I felt like home listening to the accents eddy and swirl around me. What killed me though was that they'd got their new refrigerated section up and running and they had CHICKEN SAMOOSAS!!! They'd better have some when I get back...and those bangers and meat pies that were also tempting me.
They also had a huge quantity of mince pies and traditionally Christmasy things and I stood and drooled for a long time in the wine section.
I drove home and had lunch before setting off again, this time to Stein-Mart where I found some excellent presents and managed to resist a beautiful ring and an even more beautiful necklace that were totally reasonably priced. I almost bought Mom a Kindle cover, but I knew she'd gotten herself a cover already and she probably wouldn't appreciate a gold giraffe-print one anyway.
There was a store in the same plaza named Farmer's Harvest (or something like that) and I, being unable to resist that kind of store, snuck in to see if they had any annonas. They didn't, but oh my gosh! I'm SO going back. They had the yummiest-looking fresh sushi ever, and it was $4 for a STAR ROLL! Those usually start at $12 in restaurants, if not $20. They also had tons of candy - watermelon taffy that had green outsides and pink insides with black spots, lumps of dutch chocolate, black licorice in strings and sticks, toffees, basically every kind of candy kids used to grow up dreaming about. They also had an amazing selection of healthy snacks - okra chips, wasabi-coated sunflower seeds, low-sugar dried papaya cubes, as well as the more usual pineapple and mango and apple. No citron though, unless I missed it.
There was also a section with an enormous juicer standing next to a rack full of empty bottles and a bin full of oranges. Make-your-own fresh orange juice, can you believe it?!
The drinks looked lovely too - especially their homestyle lemonade. They had a beer section that was so expansive and alluring I didn't dare let myself look properly, and I noticed they'll special-order kegs from local brewers...SO going back!
Then I headed over to Bristol Farms and bought Mom's peppercorns for her, and drooled over their deli section for awhile. That place is SO fantastic I swear as soon as I'm rich I'm buying lunch there daily. You know how most stores have cheap stuff at the register for impulse buys, like $1 Twix and Milky Way bars? Bristol Farms has boxes of 8 truffles that costs $11!!!!! I can only imagine how rich their average customer is.
After Bristol Farms I went to Big Lots to look for a cheap padlock for my garage storage unit and couldn't find any (and looking at the line I was glad) so I hopped over to Trader Joe's to get some presents. Unfortunately I couldn't find those chocolate-covered orange sweets that Dad likes, which sucks, but I did get some nice stuff. They had some really crazy stuff like eggnog cookies and huge wine-sized bottles of "Trader Joe's Holiday Ale" (no, I didn't get any) and it made me wish for a superfluous income. They had "brandy beans" made with real brandy but I decided to not get any since they might be nasty like other American liquor chocolates. The one thing I DID want were the chocolate-covered cream-filled figs! They sounded AMAZING, but I am on a budget, so maybe some other time.
I made a quick stop at Target where I finally got my padlock and then decided to skip my last stop and just go home because even though it was only 5pm it was pitch black outside and I was tired.
I spent the rest of the evening making lists and trying to organize myself...and eating choc-kits...
Today I got up and attended to urgent business in the form of printing my boarding pass and things, checking into my flight online, and ordering my taxi (do you know you can do that online??) and calling Toyota about my car. I have to leave it where it is, but I'm going to take the battery out so no one will steal it, and I wanted to call Toyota to make sure my car wouldn't be damaged by being without a battery for a month. After being transferred a few times I finally got a technician who assured me my car would be just fine, so tonight after I'm sure I don't have to drive anywhere I'll empty it of everything, put the lock thingy on the steering wheel and take out the battery.
Then I went to BevMo (a wine and liquor store) and Petco for my last presents and I'm so glad I'm finished with Christmas shopping this year.
Now I just have to clean, pack and organize everything. I feel slightly overwhelmed but a new list will go far to help me get everything ready. I think I'm going to clean my bathroom and kitchen first just to get them done and off my list.
I'm so excited! But first, it's time for lunch.
Yesterday I drove 96 miles doing my Christmas shopping and I drove another 5 today finishing it up. Still, it's December 15th and I have all the birthday and Christmas presents of the season so hooray for that! I spent $200 on all of it, but what is a salary for if not for Christmas and birthday presents?
My first stop yesterday was The African Hut in Laguna Niguel and GUESS WHAT? They FINALLY had Peppermint Crisps!!!!!!
They cost $2.48 each but I got six. My salary is earned by sweat and misery and Peppermint Crisps - which I haven't had since last Christmas, and I only had them then thanks to Nicky who sent us some from Canada - are totally worth every penny I paid for them.
I got Mom's wors and Mark's lychee juice (I hope he likes Ceres) as well as a few presents, and the total was a whopping $73!!!!!!!! Luckily, Mom is paying for her own wors so I only spent $46 of my money. And I was very good, I didn't buy any of the lovely Christmas candy, nor a single candy bar that wasn't peppermint crisp. I did buy myself a box of choc-kits but they were on sale for $2 a box so I was quite happy with that. (Think about that for a second, a box of choc-kits is cheaper than a single bar of peppermint crisp!)
They had the loveliest Christmas crackers that seemed to have really nice toys in them but they were horribly expensive so I didn't get them. The cute ones we get from Tuesday Morning pop just as well as those do.
The African Hut was as busy as I've ever seen it, full of Britons and South Africans and I felt like home listening to the accents eddy and swirl around me. What killed me though was that they'd got their new refrigerated section up and running and they had CHICKEN SAMOOSAS!!! They'd better have some when I get back...and those bangers and meat pies that were also tempting me.
They also had a huge quantity of mince pies and traditionally Christmasy things and I stood and drooled for a long time in the wine section.
I drove home and had lunch before setting off again, this time to Stein-Mart where I found some excellent presents and managed to resist a beautiful ring and an even more beautiful necklace that were totally reasonably priced. I almost bought Mom a Kindle cover, but I knew she'd gotten herself a cover already and she probably wouldn't appreciate a gold giraffe-print one anyway.
There was a store in the same plaza named Farmer's Harvest (or something like that) and I, being unable to resist that kind of store, snuck in to see if they had any annonas. They didn't, but oh my gosh! I'm SO going back. They had the yummiest-looking fresh sushi ever, and it was $4 for a STAR ROLL! Those usually start at $12 in restaurants, if not $20. They also had tons of candy - watermelon taffy that had green outsides and pink insides with black spots, lumps of dutch chocolate, black licorice in strings and sticks, toffees, basically every kind of candy kids used to grow up dreaming about. They also had an amazing selection of healthy snacks - okra chips, wasabi-coated sunflower seeds, low-sugar dried papaya cubes, as well as the more usual pineapple and mango and apple. No citron though, unless I missed it.
There was also a section with an enormous juicer standing next to a rack full of empty bottles and a bin full of oranges. Make-your-own fresh orange juice, can you believe it?!
The drinks looked lovely too - especially their homestyle lemonade. They had a beer section that was so expansive and alluring I didn't dare let myself look properly, and I noticed they'll special-order kegs from local brewers...SO going back!
Then I headed over to Bristol Farms and bought Mom's peppercorns for her, and drooled over their deli section for awhile. That place is SO fantastic I swear as soon as I'm rich I'm buying lunch there daily. You know how most stores have cheap stuff at the register for impulse buys, like $1 Twix and Milky Way bars? Bristol Farms has boxes of 8 truffles that costs $11!!!!! I can only imagine how rich their average customer is.
After Bristol Farms I went to Big Lots to look for a cheap padlock for my garage storage unit and couldn't find any (and looking at the line I was glad) so I hopped over to Trader Joe's to get some presents. Unfortunately I couldn't find those chocolate-covered orange sweets that Dad likes, which sucks, but I did get some nice stuff. They had some really crazy stuff like eggnog cookies and huge wine-sized bottles of "Trader Joe's Holiday Ale" (no, I didn't get any) and it made me wish for a superfluous income. They had "brandy beans" made with real brandy but I decided to not get any since they might be nasty like other American liquor chocolates. The one thing I DID want were the chocolate-covered cream-filled figs! They sounded AMAZING, but I am on a budget, so maybe some other time.
I made a quick stop at Target where I finally got my padlock and then decided to skip my last stop and just go home because even though it was only 5pm it was pitch black outside and I was tired.
I spent the rest of the evening making lists and trying to organize myself...and eating choc-kits...
Today I got up and attended to urgent business in the form of printing my boarding pass and things, checking into my flight online, and ordering my taxi (do you know you can do that online??) and calling Toyota about my car. I have to leave it where it is, but I'm going to take the battery out so no one will steal it, and I wanted to call Toyota to make sure my car wouldn't be damaged by being without a battery for a month. After being transferred a few times I finally got a technician who assured me my car would be just fine, so tonight after I'm sure I don't have to drive anywhere I'll empty it of everything, put the lock thingy on the steering wheel and take out the battery.
Then I went to BevMo (a wine and liquor store) and Petco for my last presents and I'm so glad I'm finished with Christmas shopping this year.
Now I just have to clean, pack and organize everything. I feel slightly overwhelmed but a new list will go far to help me get everything ready. I think I'm going to clean my bathroom and kitchen first just to get them done and off my list.
I'm so excited! But first, it's time for lunch.
Monday, December 13, 2010
Finally!
I'm finished with my first semester of graduate school! Hip hip hooray! Of course, I haven't got my grades yet, but I'm hoping I worked hard enough to get the grades I need/want.
Tomorrow is my rush-around-the-shops day, and then Wednesday is packing-and-cleaning day. Honestly, I'll probably clean a lot tomorrow too, this apartment is kind of a mess, especially my bathroom. I've never had a bathtub be so messy before! I can't figure out where on earth all the dust and lint is coming from - could it possibly be because there's a window in this bathroom and there weren't windows in my other bathrooms?
I'm SO glad I have that dustbuster now - it's even got a hose and head attachment for easier vacuuming.
Okay, it's definitely time to relax - I won't have any time to do so until the Christmas party this Saturday after tonight. I'm so excited!!
Tomorrow is my rush-around-the-shops day, and then Wednesday is packing-and-cleaning day. Honestly, I'll probably clean a lot tomorrow too, this apartment is kind of a mess, especially my bathroom. I've never had a bathtub be so messy before! I can't figure out where on earth all the dust and lint is coming from - could it possibly be because there's a window in this bathroom and there weren't windows in my other bathrooms?
I'm SO glad I have that dustbuster now - it's even got a hose and head attachment for easier vacuuming.
Okay, it's definitely time to relax - I won't have any time to do so until the Christmas party this Saturday after tonight. I'm so excited!!
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Rugrats
I would just like to say that I LOVE Rugrats. Lipo still hasn't emailed me more instructions so I'm watching Rugrats and trying to relax. It's the episode called Radio Daze and the babies are listening to this old-timey radio show called the Masked Detective and they're trying to keep Angelica from eating all of the malted milkballs, which are hidden a stuffed woodchuck. Best line ever: "So this is the Malties Woodchuck."
Of course, I had no idea what that meant when I was kid, but I realize now they do this to take pity on the grown ups who have to watch this stuff over and over.
I'm not a grown up yet...nor do I want to be. I DO want it to be the holidays already though.
Of course, I had no idea what that meant when I was kid, but I realize now they do this to take pity on the grown ups who have to watch this stuff over and over.
I'm not a grown up yet...nor do I want to be. I DO want it to be the holidays already though.
All-Nighter
I got an email from my boss at 11:30 pm with a list of 40 collections I needed to make new summary sheets for. I worked through the night and emailed him everything along with questions about the next step at 5:45 am. It's now 2:45 pm and he still hasn't returned my email, so now that I've eaten and showered I'm going to work on my CRM essay and hope I get it into good shape.
I hope there isn't a lot left to be done for my job, I just can't do two all-nighters in a row. I just can't!!
I hope there isn't a lot left to be done for my job, I just can't do two all-nighters in a row. I just can't!!
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Whew?
So this has been a crazy week. Wednesday I had my little presentation thinger, which turned out to be pretty chill, nothing to worry about. Then I went home and studied all night for my geology test.
Thursday I had my test early in the morning, then I went and got some lunch and read a paper during lunch for the theory meeting. Then it was the theory meeting, and it was Judy, Jake and me but it was a really in-depth one and I was mentally exhausted anyway so it was a little hard for me to follow.
Then I went to the post office and got a pamphlet about how to get your mail forwarded with the USPS website instead of waiting in line for hours - you would not have BELIEVED the length of that line!
The rest of Thursday was spent working on the NAGPRA stuff so I could get it to my boss early on Friday for him to check. I went to bed at about 3 am and got up at 10 am and finished my work at 1:30 when I emailed it all off to my boss.
Half an hour later I got an email back saying that I had a lot of collections in there that needed to be taken out - ones from other countries that don't fall under NAGPRA - and I needed to change the charts around from the way I had them. Then after a lot of editing and back and forthing, he finally said that everything was "too confusing" and that I shouldn't have used everything from the master list because we didn't have all that stuff anymore and I should've just used the collections we have.
Annoyingly, early in the semester I'd made a list of all the collections in the lab and emailed it to my boss and he told me not to bother with that, but to use his master list instead.
So I spent my Friday afternoon and evening in the lab making up a new list and pulling those non-NAGPRA boxes to move to the PH1 lab sometimes next week. Luckily, there are only 9 of them and they're not too heavy, because there's no elevator in that building and the lab is on the second floor, so I'll have to carry those boxes up all the stairs.
I was so upset and discombobulated at this point that being in the lab really really started to upset me - I've never been bothered by skeletons before. Even in my forensics classes when we were shown people whose heads were blown open by gunfire, and bodies riddled with syphilis, I wasn't freaked out at all. But pulling down a box to check its tab and finding a skull inside of it staring at me just weirded me out bigtime. Plus there was one box that has no lid and was just FULL of fragmented skulls and it made me think of Polyphemus' cave or something.
I finally went home late that night - I don't remember when, and called Mom and Dad on the way home. Then I made myself a really nice dinner - curried prawns - and watched tv while I ate. Then I went back to work and typed up my notes from the lab and emailed them off to my professor so he could use them in the lab today. I also wrote a 10 page paper for my theory final in 4 hours.
Today I got up late again, edited my theory essay, and started working on my cultural resource management essay. It's only about 8 and a bit pages right now, plus a bibliography, so I need to work on it some more, but I have SOMETHING to hand in if my brain explodes/implodes tomorrow.
My boss hasn't emailed me with more work so I'm hoping (praying?) that everything is okay now. I THOUGHT I was following his directions correctly - and he certainly never said anything was wrong when I emailed him my work periodically through the semester.
So I don't know. I guess all I can do is wait and see?
I've spent the past few hours watching Netflix. Man, this was SUCH a good investment. All I need is some junk food, but I'm trying to be good considering that Christmas is coming and I gained a lot of weight this semester anyway. So I didn't buy any when I got "groceries" today - really just an onion, a cucumber, paper towels and dish soap. Luckily, paper towels and dish soap don't spoil so I could stock up without having to freak out about leaving them while I'm at home.
Home! It sounds so lovely, even though as soon as I get home I have to start getting ready for the Christmas party. I have no idea what I'm going to wear...maybe I can find some time on Tuesday to go shopping for a dress, because Wednesday is going to be entirely packing and cleaning. This apartment is going to be SPOTLESS when I leave...and probably really dusty when I come back. Oh well, such is life.
I'm tired now, I think it's time for more Netflix. They should send me Season 2 of Scooby Doo soon and I'm excited because I think that's the one with my favorite episode - the one where they're in an ice cream factory.
I miss being a kid!!
Thursday I had my test early in the morning, then I went and got some lunch and read a paper during lunch for the theory meeting. Then it was the theory meeting, and it was Judy, Jake and me but it was a really in-depth one and I was mentally exhausted anyway so it was a little hard for me to follow.
Then I went to the post office and got a pamphlet about how to get your mail forwarded with the USPS website instead of waiting in line for hours - you would not have BELIEVED the length of that line!
The rest of Thursday was spent working on the NAGPRA stuff so I could get it to my boss early on Friday for him to check. I went to bed at about 3 am and got up at 10 am and finished my work at 1:30 when I emailed it all off to my boss.
Half an hour later I got an email back saying that I had a lot of collections in there that needed to be taken out - ones from other countries that don't fall under NAGPRA - and I needed to change the charts around from the way I had them. Then after a lot of editing and back and forthing, he finally said that everything was "too confusing" and that I shouldn't have used everything from the master list because we didn't have all that stuff anymore and I should've just used the collections we have.
Annoyingly, early in the semester I'd made a list of all the collections in the lab and emailed it to my boss and he told me not to bother with that, but to use his master list instead.
So I spent my Friday afternoon and evening in the lab making up a new list and pulling those non-NAGPRA boxes to move to the PH1 lab sometimes next week. Luckily, there are only 9 of them and they're not too heavy, because there's no elevator in that building and the lab is on the second floor, so I'll have to carry those boxes up all the stairs.
I was so upset and discombobulated at this point that being in the lab really really started to upset me - I've never been bothered by skeletons before. Even in my forensics classes when we were shown people whose heads were blown open by gunfire, and bodies riddled with syphilis, I wasn't freaked out at all. But pulling down a box to check its tab and finding a skull inside of it staring at me just weirded me out bigtime. Plus there was one box that has no lid and was just FULL of fragmented skulls and it made me think of Polyphemus' cave or something.
I finally went home late that night - I don't remember when, and called Mom and Dad on the way home. Then I made myself a really nice dinner - curried prawns - and watched tv while I ate. Then I went back to work and typed up my notes from the lab and emailed them off to my professor so he could use them in the lab today. I also wrote a 10 page paper for my theory final in 4 hours.
Today I got up late again, edited my theory essay, and started working on my cultural resource management essay. It's only about 8 and a bit pages right now, plus a bibliography, so I need to work on it some more, but I have SOMETHING to hand in if my brain explodes/implodes tomorrow.
My boss hasn't emailed me with more work so I'm hoping (praying?) that everything is okay now. I THOUGHT I was following his directions correctly - and he certainly never said anything was wrong when I emailed him my work periodically through the semester.
So I don't know. I guess all I can do is wait and see?
I've spent the past few hours watching Netflix. Man, this was SUCH a good investment. All I need is some junk food, but I'm trying to be good considering that Christmas is coming and I gained a lot of weight this semester anyway. So I didn't buy any when I got "groceries" today - really just an onion, a cucumber, paper towels and dish soap. Luckily, paper towels and dish soap don't spoil so I could stock up without having to freak out about leaving them while I'm at home.
Home! It sounds so lovely, even though as soon as I get home I have to start getting ready for the Christmas party. I have no idea what I'm going to wear...maybe I can find some time on Tuesday to go shopping for a dress, because Wednesday is going to be entirely packing and cleaning. This apartment is going to be SPOTLESS when I leave...and probably really dusty when I come back. Oh well, such is life.
I'm tired now, I think it's time for more Netflix. They should send me Season 2 of Scooby Doo soon and I'm excited because I think that's the one with my favorite episode - the one where they're in an ice cream factory.
I miss being a kid!!
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Really, English Government?
They voted to remove the tuition cap and now tuition at English universities will be as much as 9,000 pounds a year. Now I DEFINITELY can't move to England for my PhD. That's so upsetting, I was really looking forward to getting out of the US for a few years.
Oh, and are you SERIOUSLY expecting to have ANY students now that you've done this? Your universities are going to hemorrhage students, so they'll fire professors and staff and then you'll have thousands more people competing for jobs that you don't have!
I mean, I know I'm no good at economics, but I DO know college students, and there are very few of us willing to pay nearly $10,000 a year for school, and probably even fewer who can afford it!!
Isn't there ANYWHERE else you could have attacked the budget? Raised taxes on rich people? Cut some tax cuts? Or if you HAD to raise the tuition cap, how about by 1,000 pounds at most? Because raising it by over 5,000 pounds is DISGUSTING!!
WE STUDENTS ARE POOR!!
P.S. California, this goes for you too. Quit raising tuition costs, I haven't got more money to give you, I'm thousands of dollars in debt already.
Oh, and are you SERIOUSLY expecting to have ANY students now that you've done this? Your universities are going to hemorrhage students, so they'll fire professors and staff and then you'll have thousands more people competing for jobs that you don't have!
I mean, I know I'm no good at economics, but I DO know college students, and there are very few of us willing to pay nearly $10,000 a year for school, and probably even fewer who can afford it!!
Isn't there ANYWHERE else you could have attacked the budget? Raised taxes on rich people? Cut some tax cuts? Or if you HAD to raise the tuition cap, how about by 1,000 pounds at most? Because raising it by over 5,000 pounds is DISGUSTING!!
WE STUDENTS ARE POOR!!
P.S. California, this goes for you too. Quit raising tuition costs, I haven't got more money to give you, I'm thousands of dollars in debt already.
Finally
FINISHED with geology! That class kicked my butt. I hope I do well on this test. Completely blanked on phosphorus though.
Monday, December 6, 2010
Notes from finals week
It is 6:07 pm and I'm sitting in the meeting room, and it turns out there's no meeting today so I'm sitting here with some of the cultural anthropologist girls and they're all studying and I don't have any of my work here (teehee) so I'm updating here.
Right now we're discussing the merits of a thesis on where transgender ends and hermaphrodite begins. Yes, this is what happens in anthropology groupings in our "spare time".
Today was pretty good, even though I didn't sleep well until about 4 am and consequently stayed in bed until 9 am before I forced myself into the shower and made breakfast and got ready for class. It turns out that I've gained back all the weight I lost earlier this year. All the other grad girls assured me it was grad school - one of them says she's gained 20 pounds this year alone. I MUST start going to the gym!
Maybe I'll get a month-long membership at that gym Lidia goes to and make her take me daily so we can push each other.
Cultural resource management was good, we talked about our papers a little, and it turns out we're doing mini-presentations on Wednesday which kind of freaks me out since I have an exam on Thursday and I didn't want to have to think about anything but the test (even though I'm working on both my final essays and my NAGPRA stuff this week too) until Thursday afternoon. But I'll be fine.
One of the girls just said, "I'm only a lesbian when I'm with women." I love California.
Then I went home, ate lunch, had my obligatory end-of-the-semester-exhausts-me nap, then finished my last five page paper for theory and started organizing my final paper for CRM before I headed out to the meeting that isn't. I might spend an hour or so tonight on my CRM paper, it depends on how soon we get out of Theory, because I absolutely HAVE to be awake for geology tomorrow - we get new material (that will be on the test) AND a test review. So, I need to be fully functional.
California is still strange to me, and there are still days when I feel like a greenhorn, in my Eastern European clothes, standing on the docks of the Hudson river, watching the crowds bustle around me on the threshold of the Promised Land.
Other days, I feel fine here. This Saturday I went out with Judy (geoarchaeology) and Connie (geology) and some of Judy's friends for a Girls' Night Out/Judy's Birthday Celebration, and it was so much fun! We started out at this Japanese steakhouse - I think it was called Bari Bari - and I got the calamari and it was SUPER yummy.
Then we went to this bar called The Olde Ship (it was SO cute - a little British pub full of ship paraphernalia), and when I heard the name I immediately exclaimed, "Oh, we should have rum like the pirates!"
So we were all sitting down, I had my draft Spaten, Judy and one of her friends had Long Island Iced Teas, Connie had a hard cider, and Judy's other two friends had whiskey sours (I felt like such a tomboy), and Judy says, "Let's get the rum!" So we each ordered a single, but we somehow ended up with doubles (only $5, I'm not complaining) and everyone was appalled at how big they were.
We agreed to take half the shot and they all took half a sip or so and I downed the whole shot, which made Judy say, "Damn Carla!"
Turns out I'm still 100% Gator where it counts. Definitely felt dizzy afterward though, so I stuck with sipping my lager slowly.
The rest of the night was spent sobering up - I'd left my car at Judy's and I still felt a little dizzy when we got back to her place, so I stayed there for half an hour (her brothers were throwing a party) until I was 100% sure I was good to drive.
I was really glad too, because my GPS directed me right into a blocked road so I had to use my wits, exit on the detour, then choose a nearby location already programmed into it (I chose Jo-anns) and then went home on a different highway from there. Thank goodness for that GPS! I'm so glad Dad got it for me! Otherwise I would've been in a lot of trouble, driving in circles all night.
I got home, heated up leftovers, ate and then passed out. I spent Sunday feeling grumpy and running errands. And then Monday rolled around!
It's now 6:50 and I'm tired of writing, but now you're all updated on my life and know why posts are probably going to be patchy until Tuesday, unless I decide to procrastinate. Bon soir!
Right now we're discussing the merits of a thesis on where transgender ends and hermaphrodite begins. Yes, this is what happens in anthropology groupings in our "spare time".
Today was pretty good, even though I didn't sleep well until about 4 am and consequently stayed in bed until 9 am before I forced myself into the shower and made breakfast and got ready for class. It turns out that I've gained back all the weight I lost earlier this year. All the other grad girls assured me it was grad school - one of them says she's gained 20 pounds this year alone. I MUST start going to the gym!
Maybe I'll get a month-long membership at that gym Lidia goes to and make her take me daily so we can push each other.
Cultural resource management was good, we talked about our papers a little, and it turns out we're doing mini-presentations on Wednesday which kind of freaks me out since I have an exam on Thursday and I didn't want to have to think about anything but the test (even though I'm working on both my final essays and my NAGPRA stuff this week too) until Thursday afternoon. But I'll be fine.
One of the girls just said, "I'm only a lesbian when I'm with women." I love California.
Then I went home, ate lunch, had my obligatory end-of-the-semester-exhausts-me nap, then finished my last five page paper for theory and started organizing my final paper for CRM before I headed out to the meeting that isn't. I might spend an hour or so tonight on my CRM paper, it depends on how soon we get out of Theory, because I absolutely HAVE to be awake for geology tomorrow - we get new material (that will be on the test) AND a test review. So, I need to be fully functional.
California is still strange to me, and there are still days when I feel like a greenhorn, in my Eastern European clothes, standing on the docks of the Hudson river, watching the crowds bustle around me on the threshold of the Promised Land.
Other days, I feel fine here. This Saturday I went out with Judy (geoarchaeology) and Connie (geology) and some of Judy's friends for a Girls' Night Out/Judy's Birthday Celebration, and it was so much fun! We started out at this Japanese steakhouse - I think it was called Bari Bari - and I got the calamari and it was SUPER yummy.
Then we went to this bar called The Olde Ship (it was SO cute - a little British pub full of ship paraphernalia), and when I heard the name I immediately exclaimed, "Oh, we should have rum like the pirates!"
So we were all sitting down, I had my draft Spaten, Judy and one of her friends had Long Island Iced Teas, Connie had a hard cider, and Judy's other two friends had whiskey sours (I felt like such a tomboy), and Judy says, "Let's get the rum!" So we each ordered a single, but we somehow ended up with doubles (only $5, I'm not complaining) and everyone was appalled at how big they were.
We agreed to take half the shot and they all took half a sip or so and I downed the whole shot, which made Judy say, "Damn Carla!"
Turns out I'm still 100% Gator where it counts. Definitely felt dizzy afterward though, so I stuck with sipping my lager slowly.
The rest of the night was spent sobering up - I'd left my car at Judy's and I still felt a little dizzy when we got back to her place, so I stayed there for half an hour (her brothers were throwing a party) until I was 100% sure I was good to drive.
I was really glad too, because my GPS directed me right into a blocked road so I had to use my wits, exit on the detour, then choose a nearby location already programmed into it (I chose Jo-anns) and then went home on a different highway from there. Thank goodness for that GPS! I'm so glad Dad got it for me! Otherwise I would've been in a lot of trouble, driving in circles all night.
I got home, heated up leftovers, ate and then passed out. I spent Sunday feeling grumpy and running errands. And then Monday rolled around!
It's now 6:50 and I'm tired of writing, but now you're all updated on my life and know why posts are probably going to be patchy until Tuesday, unless I decide to procrastinate. Bon soir!
Friday, December 3, 2010
Friday Night Frights
Wednesday was a stressful day - the one class and then I went home and worked all night on my geology report. I got it all done except for the illustration bit and when I tried to use Adobe Illustrator to do it, it just wouldn't do what I wanted until finally I got frustrated and gave up and did it by hand. I kind of regret it, because I think even a shoddy computer illustration would've looked better than the one it took me hours to do by hand. I finished around midnight, went to Jack in the Box for junk food, came home, had a beer in bed, and went to sleep.
Thursday was geology class in the morning, where I turned in my report and then listened to a three hour lecture on continental margins. During class the guy responsible for installing my heater called three times, and left a voicemail. After class I called him back and he wanted to know if I was home so that he could install the heater - I had told him VERY clearly on Wednesday that I would only be available after 3 pm. Do people not listen anymore?!
After that I was so depressed and mentally exhausted I went to the Nugget for a beer and a cheeseburger while reading for the theory meeting we had at 12:30 pm.
The meeting turned out to be just Dr. Lipo, Jake and myself, so that was an interesting change. It was a shorter meeting than usual, and I got home around 2:20, cleaned up a bit, and then called the heater guy who said he'd come by to install it within 20 minutes.
He turned up at 4 pm and fiddled around for an hour then left, promising to return the next day to finish installing it.
I really should have spent the evening working, but I was so tired and miserable I watched tv instead, and went to bed late after finishing a book.
Today I got up late, ate breakfast, and started working on my NAGPRA stuff. I called the heater guy and someone who didn't speak English picked up, but he finally understood what I was asking about and said the guy would call me back. He did a few hours later and I said I was home and he could come by to finish the heater anytime - he promised to come back at three.
At four-thirty he finally turned up with his partner, and they stayed for two and a half hours installing the damn thing, so I missed BBC World News which kind of pissed me off - and I was hungry, not having eaten since 11 am. I also had to leave my door and windows open for the first hour after the heater was started up to get all the toxic fumes out. Apparently you can't have your fire alarm too close to your heater because it'll set it off constantly - my ears are still ringing!
So the heater guy kindly unscrewed my fire alarm from where it was and moved it to one of the beams in my ceiling so it would work for a real fire, but not randomly go off because of the heater. Of course, now I have to get on a chair to get at it, but hopefully it won't set off too frequently...I just have to remember to have the door open when I'm frying latkes!
After they left I ate dinner, and then started watching Scooby Doo Season 1 on DVD - thank you Netflix - and it's awesome! I completely forgot about some of these episodes. Of course, I only have one dvd at a time and there are two per season, but I have the first two seasons on my queue, and I think I can get through all of them before I leave for Orlando...Netflix will be a bit trickier then, even though I'm getting my mail forwarded.
Tomorrow I'm going to write that 5 page paper - that's my goal anyway - and Sunday I'll work on my two final papers that are due on the 13th. The 13th is a big day - Mom's birthday, my two final papers are due, and all my NAGPRA work for the semester is due so it can be handed over to the National Park Service.
Enough writing, it's Scooby Doo time!
Thursday was geology class in the morning, where I turned in my report and then listened to a three hour lecture on continental margins. During class the guy responsible for installing my heater called three times, and left a voicemail. After class I called him back and he wanted to know if I was home so that he could install the heater - I had told him VERY clearly on Wednesday that I would only be available after 3 pm. Do people not listen anymore?!
After that I was so depressed and mentally exhausted I went to the Nugget for a beer and a cheeseburger while reading for the theory meeting we had at 12:30 pm.
The meeting turned out to be just Dr. Lipo, Jake and myself, so that was an interesting change. It was a shorter meeting than usual, and I got home around 2:20, cleaned up a bit, and then called the heater guy who said he'd come by to install it within 20 minutes.
He turned up at 4 pm and fiddled around for an hour then left, promising to return the next day to finish installing it.
I really should have spent the evening working, but I was so tired and miserable I watched tv instead, and went to bed late after finishing a book.
Today I got up late, ate breakfast, and started working on my NAGPRA stuff. I called the heater guy and someone who didn't speak English picked up, but he finally understood what I was asking about and said the guy would call me back. He did a few hours later and I said I was home and he could come by to finish the heater anytime - he promised to come back at three.
At four-thirty he finally turned up with his partner, and they stayed for two and a half hours installing the damn thing, so I missed BBC World News which kind of pissed me off - and I was hungry, not having eaten since 11 am. I also had to leave my door and windows open for the first hour after the heater was started up to get all the toxic fumes out. Apparently you can't have your fire alarm too close to your heater because it'll set it off constantly - my ears are still ringing!
So the heater guy kindly unscrewed my fire alarm from where it was and moved it to one of the beams in my ceiling so it would work for a real fire, but not randomly go off because of the heater. Of course, now I have to get on a chair to get at it, but hopefully it won't set off too frequently...I just have to remember to have the door open when I'm frying latkes!
After they left I ate dinner, and then started watching Scooby Doo Season 1 on DVD - thank you Netflix - and it's awesome! I completely forgot about some of these episodes. Of course, I only have one dvd at a time and there are two per season, but I have the first two seasons on my queue, and I think I can get through all of them before I leave for Orlando...Netflix will be a bit trickier then, even though I'm getting my mail forwarded.
Tomorrow I'm going to write that 5 page paper - that's my goal anyway - and Sunday I'll work on my two final papers that are due on the 13th. The 13th is a big day - Mom's birthday, my two final papers are due, and all my NAGPRA work for the semester is due so it can be handed over to the National Park Service.
Enough writing, it's Scooby Doo time!
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
I Know A Rose Tree
It's a quarter past midnight and I just finished working on my geology report - don't be too proud, it's not finished. I haven't done the discussion, conclusion or the abstract yet, and I still need to tweak what I have written, add some well-chosen photographs, and finish my stratigraphic column, which is currently the bane of my existence.
Got up at 8:30 this morning - I kept on waking up all through the night so I needed that extra half-hour - and showered and enjoyed an hour's worth of playing on the internet. Went to class and participated in the discussion, then came home, ate lunch and started working on geography.
Ate dinner at 6, then left for Theory at 6:30. Theory lasted from 7 pm - 9:40 pm and I only got home at 10 pm, and immediately started working on geology again.
Now it is the witching hour and I'm exhausted and A Celtic Soltice's "Home" just came on and it's making me cry like it always does.
Definitely bedtime.
Got up at 8:30 this morning - I kept on waking up all through the night so I needed that extra half-hour - and showered and enjoyed an hour's worth of playing on the internet. Went to class and participated in the discussion, then came home, ate lunch and started working on geography.
Ate dinner at 6, then left for Theory at 6:30. Theory lasted from 7 pm - 9:40 pm and I only got home at 10 pm, and immediately started working on geology again.
Now it is the witching hour and I'm exhausted and A Celtic Soltice's "Home" just came on and it's making me cry like it always does.
Definitely bedtime.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Weekend? What weekend?
Hi all, sorry it took me so long to post. I'm afraid there won't be any pictures in this episode of As California Turns, but maybe sometime this week.
Wednesday was spent writing essays. I kid you not, with the exception of an hour of grocery shopping, an hour of cooking, and another 45 minutes of running back to the grocery store at 10 pm because I'd forgotten to buy onions, the rest of my day was essays...except for the hour I fell asleep in my armchair and woke up upside-down with the most awful crick in my neck. But I got four written, so that was really good.
Thursday, as per my resolution, I didn't do a scrap of work and it felt lovely! I got up around 9, turned on the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (which is broadcast at 9 am PST for those of us who don't get up at 6 am on a holiday) and put my bread in the oven.
I was pretty annoyed, come Wednesday afternoon, to find that the only (and I mean ONLY) French bread that wasn't whole-grain or had some nasty seedy inclusions in it was these floppy ones that you have to bake for 15 minutes at home. I liked the kind we got at Fresh Market - already baked, perfectly crisp on the outside and just the right texture for cheese-spreading on the inside. I baked this stuff, but even though I made sure it was extra crispy on the outside the damn stuff didn't like cutting - I don't have a legitimate bread knife and that might be part of the problem - so I finally sat down with hacked off hunks and spread them with goat cheese that crumbled and fell everywhere. However, it was still very yummy, which I suppose atones for much.
I was cooking when I heard my phone go off, so I had to stop, rinse my hands, and get it - turns out 10 am my time was when everyone back home was sitting round the table, so I got my new laptop, attached it to my extension cord, and cleverly placed it on top of my microwave so I could cook, everyone back home could see me, and I couldn't accidentally splash it with anything.
Wednesday night I'd written up a time plan of when things had to be cooked or start cooking like I'd seen Mom do a million times, but it gave me SUCH a thrill to put my stuffing in the oven (in a pyrex dish, with turkey thighs on top), look at the clock and see that it was 12:13 pm, exactly two minutes BEFORE I was supposed to put it in!
Of course, I immediately had to start working on my potatoes, but it was still a thrill. I got 10 pounds of russet potatoes for $1 (I'm not kidding, it was a Thanksgiving special), and after an hour of peeling and chopping I decided I would only make 8 pounds of mashed potatoes. It worked out really well, because my big glass bowls (oh, how I love them!) each fit about 4 pounds really comfortably, and they sit nicely in several places in my fridge. I did have to take out some of the beer, but that didn't hurt it, and the fridge was full for a change, which was fun.
I mashed the potatoes nicely right before the turkey came out of the oven, and then all I had to do while the turkey cooled was microwave some of the broccoli, and before you know it I had a perfect Thanksgiving dinner of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, broccoli, and Harvard beets.
Harvard beets are one of my favorite vegetables, and I was appalled to find out that they don't sell them ANYWHERE here in California, so I went online, chose a recipe called "Grandma's 1930s Harvard Beets" - I have great faith in surviving grandmothers' recipes - and tried to follow it exactly. I've never made beets before and didn't bake them long enough at first, but thanks to the internet, I knew how to test them (you use a sharp - very sharp - knife, and if it slips in without resistance, you're good to go) and baked them for an additional half-hour which left them perfect. Slipping the beets was LOTS of fun, but I was very glad I'd listened to Mom and worn surgical gloves, because dude, beet juice STAINS bigtime. The beets tasted excellent, but the sauce was too thin - I guess it takes practice to get it perfect. But practice I will, because I LOVE Harvard beets and I hate doing without them.
I spent about 3 hours on Skype with the family, which was fantastic, because I really miss everyone, and being out here all alone for Thanksgiving really sucked. I don't even have a kittycat to boss me around and commandeer my lap for cuddles. Being a graduate student kind of sucks. Maybe when I'm a postdoc I can get a cat.
After the family signed off I took a nap - cooking a Thanksgiving meal is tiring, even if it's just for one person plus oodles of leftovers. Then I spent the afternoon watching movies and eating goat cheese, bread, chips, ice cream, and leftovers.
That evening I made a ponche and it was MUCH better than the first one. I couldn't drink all of it, so some of it went into the fridge and I drank it last night. Ponche is better when shared, I think.
Friday I tried to work but a sick headache put me to bed, and I spent a lot of the day lying down trying to feel better.
I did go out to Jo-Ann's before the headache, looking for curtain fabric, but there was nothing I wanted in the fabric department, although I did spend $15 on beads. That made me very happy. I also spent an hour making Christmas earrings to put myself in the Christmas mood and it sort of worked. They're cute anyway.
Saturday I felt better and got most of my presentation for Monday done, and worked a little on my other stuff, but not nearly enough. I felt sick that afternoon too, and decided it was the bloody cold weather, and bundled up and read a storybook to make myself feel better.
Today I worked my tailfeathers off, finishing my presentation, writing up the fact sheet that we're handing out to the class, reading extra stuff for that class, writing a 5 page paper for theory, and writing 9 pages of my geology report. I really need to do more of my geology report, but I'm so bloody tired I don't want to. I really have to start my stratigraphy column, which I've been trying to do, but I've been plagued by computer errors and finally deleted the "cracked" version of Adobe Illustrator one of my classmates gave me and installed the trial version. If I ever need Adobe Illustrator again I'll have to buy it, which sucks because it's $160, but no one ever said a student's life is easy - and if they did, they have no idea what they're talking about.
Okay, it's 8:30 so it's definitely time for dinner. Mashed potatoes...yum!
Wednesday was spent writing essays. I kid you not, with the exception of an hour of grocery shopping, an hour of cooking, and another 45 minutes of running back to the grocery store at 10 pm because I'd forgotten to buy onions, the rest of my day was essays...except for the hour I fell asleep in my armchair and woke up upside-down with the most awful crick in my neck. But I got four written, so that was really good.
Thursday, as per my resolution, I didn't do a scrap of work and it felt lovely! I got up around 9, turned on the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (which is broadcast at 9 am PST for those of us who don't get up at 6 am on a holiday) and put my bread in the oven.
I was pretty annoyed, come Wednesday afternoon, to find that the only (and I mean ONLY) French bread that wasn't whole-grain or had some nasty seedy inclusions in it was these floppy ones that you have to bake for 15 minutes at home. I liked the kind we got at Fresh Market - already baked, perfectly crisp on the outside and just the right texture for cheese-spreading on the inside. I baked this stuff, but even though I made sure it was extra crispy on the outside the damn stuff didn't like cutting - I don't have a legitimate bread knife and that might be part of the problem - so I finally sat down with hacked off hunks and spread them with goat cheese that crumbled and fell everywhere. However, it was still very yummy, which I suppose atones for much.
I was cooking when I heard my phone go off, so I had to stop, rinse my hands, and get it - turns out 10 am my time was when everyone back home was sitting round the table, so I got my new laptop, attached it to my extension cord, and cleverly placed it on top of my microwave so I could cook, everyone back home could see me, and I couldn't accidentally splash it with anything.
Wednesday night I'd written up a time plan of when things had to be cooked or start cooking like I'd seen Mom do a million times, but it gave me SUCH a thrill to put my stuffing in the oven (in a pyrex dish, with turkey thighs on top), look at the clock and see that it was 12:13 pm, exactly two minutes BEFORE I was supposed to put it in!
Of course, I immediately had to start working on my potatoes, but it was still a thrill. I got 10 pounds of russet potatoes for $1 (I'm not kidding, it was a Thanksgiving special), and after an hour of peeling and chopping I decided I would only make 8 pounds of mashed potatoes. It worked out really well, because my big glass bowls (oh, how I love them!) each fit about 4 pounds really comfortably, and they sit nicely in several places in my fridge. I did have to take out some of the beer, but that didn't hurt it, and the fridge was full for a change, which was fun.
I mashed the potatoes nicely right before the turkey came out of the oven, and then all I had to do while the turkey cooled was microwave some of the broccoli, and before you know it I had a perfect Thanksgiving dinner of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, broccoli, and Harvard beets.
Harvard beets are one of my favorite vegetables, and I was appalled to find out that they don't sell them ANYWHERE here in California, so I went online, chose a recipe called "Grandma's 1930s Harvard Beets" - I have great faith in surviving grandmothers' recipes - and tried to follow it exactly. I've never made beets before and didn't bake them long enough at first, but thanks to the internet, I knew how to test them (you use a sharp - very sharp - knife, and if it slips in without resistance, you're good to go) and baked them for an additional half-hour which left them perfect. Slipping the beets was LOTS of fun, but I was very glad I'd listened to Mom and worn surgical gloves, because dude, beet juice STAINS bigtime. The beets tasted excellent, but the sauce was too thin - I guess it takes practice to get it perfect. But practice I will, because I LOVE Harvard beets and I hate doing without them.
I spent about 3 hours on Skype with the family, which was fantastic, because I really miss everyone, and being out here all alone for Thanksgiving really sucked. I don't even have a kittycat to boss me around and commandeer my lap for cuddles. Being a graduate student kind of sucks. Maybe when I'm a postdoc I can get a cat.
After the family signed off I took a nap - cooking a Thanksgiving meal is tiring, even if it's just for one person plus oodles of leftovers. Then I spent the afternoon watching movies and eating goat cheese, bread, chips, ice cream, and leftovers.
That evening I made a ponche and it was MUCH better than the first one. I couldn't drink all of it, so some of it went into the fridge and I drank it last night. Ponche is better when shared, I think.
Friday I tried to work but a sick headache put me to bed, and I spent a lot of the day lying down trying to feel better.
I did go out to Jo-Ann's before the headache, looking for curtain fabric, but there was nothing I wanted in the fabric department, although I did spend $15 on beads. That made me very happy. I also spent an hour making Christmas earrings to put myself in the Christmas mood and it sort of worked. They're cute anyway.
Saturday I felt better and got most of my presentation for Monday done, and worked a little on my other stuff, but not nearly enough. I felt sick that afternoon too, and decided it was the bloody cold weather, and bundled up and read a storybook to make myself feel better.
Today I worked my tailfeathers off, finishing my presentation, writing up the fact sheet that we're handing out to the class, reading extra stuff for that class, writing a 5 page paper for theory, and writing 9 pages of my geology report. I really need to do more of my geology report, but I'm so bloody tired I don't want to. I really have to start my stratigraphy column, which I've been trying to do, but I've been plagued by computer errors and finally deleted the "cracked" version of Adobe Illustrator one of my classmates gave me and installed the trial version. If I ever need Adobe Illustrator again I'll have to buy it, which sucks because it's $160, but no one ever said a student's life is easy - and if they did, they have no idea what they're talking about.
Okay, it's 8:30 so it's definitely time for dinner. Mashed potatoes...yum!
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
I Haz A Warm
When I woke up this morning for a second I wondered if exhaling would produce a cloud of water vapor, it was THAT cold. I wrapped myself in my throw and rushed over to my laptop to check the weather channel website, praying it would warm up during the day. It turned out it was FORTY-SIX DEGREES FARENHEIT! That's 8 Celcius so you don't have to convert it. So inside my apartment I'm willing to bed it was about 48-49, if I was lucky.
I was so cold that I practically started crying over the stupidest things this morning, so after a long, miserable geology class I came home, called Dad and begged for permission to buy a space heater. It's one thing if I thought my gas heater was going to be fixed anytime soon, but I have the strangest feeling it won't.
Dad gave me permission to get the heater and I rushed to Target and got a $30 one that has an energy star rating, so I'm praying it won't absolutely blow my electricity bill through the roof. I won't use it while I'm sleeping or during the day though, just times like now when it's 55 degrees or fewer outside and I'm freeeeeezing and can't stand it. I'm usually cold in houses kept at 68 degrees, so being frozen solid in a 55 degree house should come as no surprise.
I took a long nap and then called Mom and Dad again to talk. Mom was talking about having curry for dinner which made me want curry, which resulted in curried shrimp for dinner.
Curried prawns, basmati rice, chardonnay and BBC World News? It was so perfect.
I've worked a little on my job, but I have a TON of work to get done this weekend, so I'm not really looking forward to it. It's pretty miserable, but if I get it all done then the rest of my semester should be a LOT easier.
Tomorrow is basically going to be work, but I get to go grocery shopping at least, for last-minute Thanksgiving stuff. I'm halfway decided that I won't work on Thanksgiving, but I might work a little during the evening...just to make the rest of the weekend easier.
At least I'm warm now, and it totally makes everything easier.
I was so cold that I practically started crying over the stupidest things this morning, so after a long, miserable geology class I came home, called Dad and begged for permission to buy a space heater. It's one thing if I thought my gas heater was going to be fixed anytime soon, but I have the strangest feeling it won't.
Dad gave me permission to get the heater and I rushed to Target and got a $30 one that has an energy star rating, so I'm praying it won't absolutely blow my electricity bill through the roof. I won't use it while I'm sleeping or during the day though, just times like now when it's 55 degrees or fewer outside and I'm freeeeeezing and can't stand it. I'm usually cold in houses kept at 68 degrees, so being frozen solid in a 55 degree house should come as no surprise.
I took a long nap and then called Mom and Dad again to talk. Mom was talking about having curry for dinner which made me want curry, which resulted in curried shrimp for dinner.
Curried prawns, basmati rice, chardonnay and BBC World News? It was so perfect.
I've worked a little on my job, but I have a TON of work to get done this weekend, so I'm not really looking forward to it. It's pretty miserable, but if I get it all done then the rest of my semester should be a LOT easier.
Tomorrow is basically going to be work, but I get to go grocery shopping at least, for last-minute Thanksgiving stuff. I'm halfway decided that I won't work on Thanksgiving, but I might work a little during the evening...just to make the rest of the weekend easier.
At least I'm warm now, and it totally makes everything easier.
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Rainy Saturday
To be completely honest, it was only last night and this morning it was raining - it finally stopped around 2 pm.
Priscilla and I planned to go back to the canyon where we'd done our stratigraphic survey so we could see if we'd missed anything the first time, but when I texted her on Friday to doublecheck the timing she said there was a forecast for a SNOWSTORM there today! So we agreed to check the weather the next day before deciding - turns out there wasn't snow, but it was driving rain and freezing bloody cold, so we agreed to not go. I don't know about you, but scrambling around on a rock formation in the driving rain on the side of a freezing cold mountain that has gale-force winds around it is NOT my idea of a good Saturday.
So I got up at 8:40 (not by choice, I just couldn't stand lying in bed anymore. Why is it that I'm always exhausted and desperate to sleep in on weekdays, but on weekends I can't stay in bed?!) and did all my laundry, including my dressing gown, dish towels, towels, sheets and comforter which turned out to be 4 HUGE loads. And the dryer is NOT as good as Mom's my jeans and towels were still damp which really annoyed me. My jeans are now hanging over my dining table chair to dry out some. In fact, the only things that got REALLY dry were my super-duper quick-dry specialty hiking pants. Good to know those still work.
Then...I did nothing. I just sort of sat around. No energy to do anything, not even think. Finally I called Mom and Dad just to talk, and I mentioned there's this slow-cooker on sale at Wal-Mart for $15 and Mom said to definitely buy it unless there was a Rival one, because those are better. So I decided to rouse myself from my lethargy and go, even though it was dark already and the Wal-Mart here is decidedly sketchy.
My trip was beautifully uneventful, and when I got to Wal-Mart I found the Rivals there for $18 and they're a whole 1.5 quarts larger! So I am now the proud owner of a black Rival 7 quart slow cooker with THREE heat settings. I understand low and high, but what is warm for? Is that when I use the slow cooker as a heated serving dish? Isn't 7 quarts rather large for a heated serving dish?
But I'm very glad I have it because now I can make Vova's spicy pork and potatoes! It's one of my favorite dishes and it's a pain to make in the oven, but a slow cooker is perfect for it. I'm particularly pleased with my slow cooker because the ceramic dish bit lifts out for easy cleaning - and it's the heaviest part of the whole cooker! So I think I got a really good bargain.
In fact, the only kitchen stuff I really need (lack?) now is an electric mixer, and maybe some more of those fabulous little sharp knives. Mine is a DREAM, cutting up bacon for orange chicken has never been easier! Totally worth $10...actually it's probably worth $20 with the use I'm going to get out of it, if not more.
When I got home I realized I hadn't defrosted anything and since I ate so much tongue last night (and Trader Joe's mashed potatoes...I really was a pig about it) I didn't want tongue for dinner today. So I'm busy defrosting some shrimp and the rice is out of the microwave cooling and I'm going to make buttery shrimp.
I got the Trader Joe's mashed potatoes to see if they were good enough to use for Thanksgiving, but even though they were certainly better than your run of the mill pre-made mashed potatoes they aren't half as good as mine. Plus Ralph's is selling a 10 lb bag of russet potatoes for $1 this week, so I'll just make 10 lbs of mashed potatoes. I may even invest in a can of salmon and make salmon cakes...sooo yummy!
Grocery shopping tomorrow should be fun. Ralph's is finally stocking turkey legs/thighs so I'll get some and use those for Thanksgiving. I'm really relieved because there is NO WAY I could eat a whole turkey and I don't like white meat as much as dark so I didn't want to buy a breast.
I think the shrimp should be defrosted now, so happy Saturday night everyone!
Priscilla and I planned to go back to the canyon where we'd done our stratigraphic survey so we could see if we'd missed anything the first time, but when I texted her on Friday to doublecheck the timing she said there was a forecast for a SNOWSTORM there today! So we agreed to check the weather the next day before deciding - turns out there wasn't snow, but it was driving rain and freezing bloody cold, so we agreed to not go. I don't know about you, but scrambling around on a rock formation in the driving rain on the side of a freezing cold mountain that has gale-force winds around it is NOT my idea of a good Saturday.
So I got up at 8:40 (not by choice, I just couldn't stand lying in bed anymore. Why is it that I'm always exhausted and desperate to sleep in on weekdays, but on weekends I can't stay in bed?!) and did all my laundry, including my dressing gown, dish towels, towels, sheets and comforter which turned out to be 4 HUGE loads. And the dryer is NOT as good as Mom's my jeans and towels were still damp which really annoyed me. My jeans are now hanging over my dining table chair to dry out some. In fact, the only things that got REALLY dry were my super-duper quick-dry specialty hiking pants. Good to know those still work.
Then...I did nothing. I just sort of sat around. No energy to do anything, not even think. Finally I called Mom and Dad just to talk, and I mentioned there's this slow-cooker on sale at Wal-Mart for $15 and Mom said to definitely buy it unless there was a Rival one, because those are better. So I decided to rouse myself from my lethargy and go, even though it was dark already and the Wal-Mart here is decidedly sketchy.
My trip was beautifully uneventful, and when I got to Wal-Mart I found the Rivals there for $18 and they're a whole 1.5 quarts larger! So I am now the proud owner of a black Rival 7 quart slow cooker with THREE heat settings. I understand low and high, but what is warm for? Is that when I use the slow cooker as a heated serving dish? Isn't 7 quarts rather large for a heated serving dish?
But I'm very glad I have it because now I can make Vova's spicy pork and potatoes! It's one of my favorite dishes and it's a pain to make in the oven, but a slow cooker is perfect for it. I'm particularly pleased with my slow cooker because the ceramic dish bit lifts out for easy cleaning - and it's the heaviest part of the whole cooker! So I think I got a really good bargain.
In fact, the only kitchen stuff I really need (lack?) now is an electric mixer, and maybe some more of those fabulous little sharp knives. Mine is a DREAM, cutting up bacon for orange chicken has never been easier! Totally worth $10...actually it's probably worth $20 with the use I'm going to get out of it, if not more.
When I got home I realized I hadn't defrosted anything and since I ate so much tongue last night (and Trader Joe's mashed potatoes...I really was a pig about it) I didn't want tongue for dinner today. So I'm busy defrosting some shrimp and the rice is out of the microwave cooling and I'm going to make buttery shrimp.
I got the Trader Joe's mashed potatoes to see if they were good enough to use for Thanksgiving, but even though they were certainly better than your run of the mill pre-made mashed potatoes they aren't half as good as mine. Plus Ralph's is selling a 10 lb bag of russet potatoes for $1 this week, so I'll just make 10 lbs of mashed potatoes. I may even invest in a can of salmon and make salmon cakes...sooo yummy!
Grocery shopping tomorrow should be fun. Ralph's is finally stocking turkey legs/thighs so I'll get some and use those for Thanksgiving. I'm really relieved because there is NO WAY I could eat a whole turkey and I don't like white meat as much as dark so I didn't want to buy a breast.
I think the shrimp should be defrosted now, so happy Saturday night everyone!
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
ZzzzZZzzzZZZZzzzzz
It's been a loooong day. Early class, lots of work and all sorts of nonsense. I had a "mandatory" town hall meeting today for CLASC but when I got there I asked how long it would take - since I have a midterm due tomorrow, and another one on Thursday, and something like 8 papers due in the next month - the girl was shocked and told me to go home and work (which I gladly did).
In the bad news category I don't think I'm allowed to leave before the 17th which means I'm catching an afternoon or redeye out of here so I can be home in time for the Christmas Party. I AM NOT MISSING THAT PARTY FOR ANYTHING SHORT OF ACTS OF GOD!!!
Which is why I am busy taking a break from my NAGPRA work. I'm putting in overtime to make sure I get this done early. Maybe if I get it done before Thanksgiving I can go home in time for Mom's birthday. But if not, then I get to sit around here with nothing to do for a week so I can go gift shopping. I don't have ONE gift yet. How have I been that busy?!
In the bad news category I don't think I'm allowed to leave before the 17th which means I'm catching an afternoon or redeye out of here so I can be home in time for the Christmas Party. I AM NOT MISSING THAT PARTY FOR ANYTHING SHORT OF ACTS OF GOD!!!
Which is why I am busy taking a break from my NAGPRA work. I'm putting in overtime to make sure I get this done early. Maybe if I get it done before Thanksgiving I can go home in time for Mom's birthday. But if not, then I get to sit around here with nothing to do for a week so I can go gift shopping. I don't have ONE gift yet. How have I been that busy?!
Sunday, November 14, 2010
My brain is hiding
Well, I managed to get my midterm finished tonight even though it's only due Wednesday. So yay? However, I haven't finished any of the papers I was trying to finish...but I still have a few hours tomorrow to try and finish at least one of them before my late class tomorrow night.
I'm tired, it's cold, and I think it's bedtime. I'll try to update tomorrow.
I'm tired, it's cold, and I think it's bedtime. I'll try to update tomorrow.
Friday, November 12, 2010
How To Get Your Drivers' License In California
Quick background story: I took my California drivers' license test on August 23rd and passed. I was informed at the DMV that I didn't need to do anything else, that my card would arrive in the mail in 3-6 weeks. I was appalled that it would take so long, but left, relieved that I didn't have to do anything else.
After 6 weeks my card hadn't arrived so I called and asked. The lady on the line said that the INS hadn't processed my file yet, and it usually took a few months for immigrants to get processed.
The first week in November I got very nervous and called again. This lady said I could try calling a certain phone number - 916-657-7445 - to see if they had any advice. I did, repeatedly, but got a busy signal that caused my phone to hang up after four seconds - and I can't disable that function on my phone.
Today I woke up, angry, and decided to call again. I got through to the DMV (finally) and THIS lady said that I'd have to contact the DMV Legal Presence Unit and have them check on me to make sure nothing was wrong with my file. Guess what? Same number!
So I called. And called. And called again! I FINALLY got through! A very nice man named Brian told me that I'd have to fax them a front and back copy of my greencard to his office, along with my drivers' license number, my daytime phone number, and address the fax to Attn Brian.
I thanked him and immediately set out to Kinko's, which, conveniently, is right down the street from me.
I got the fax sent off (who knew it costs $2.60 to send a fax?!) and got the confirmation message.
Now I guess I just wait. Maybe I should call the DMV and see if I have to get a new temporary license because my current one is going to run out soon.
After 6 weeks my card hadn't arrived so I called and asked. The lady on the line said that the INS hadn't processed my file yet, and it usually took a few months for immigrants to get processed.
The first week in November I got very nervous and called again. This lady said I could try calling a certain phone number - 916-657-7445 - to see if they had any advice. I did, repeatedly, but got a busy signal that caused my phone to hang up after four seconds - and I can't disable that function on my phone.
Today I woke up, angry, and decided to call again. I got through to the DMV (finally) and THIS lady said that I'd have to contact the DMV Legal Presence Unit and have them check on me to make sure nothing was wrong with my file. Guess what? Same number!
So I called. And called. And called again! I FINALLY got through! A very nice man named Brian told me that I'd have to fax them a front and back copy of my greencard to his office, along with my drivers' license number, my daytime phone number, and address the fax to Attn Brian.
I thanked him and immediately set out to Kinko's, which, conveniently, is right down the street from me.
I got the fax sent off (who knew it costs $2.60 to send a fax?!) and got the confirmation message.
Now I guess I just wait. Maybe I should call the DMV and see if I have to get a new temporary license because my current one is going to run out soon.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Heater 2.0
Here's the update on my heating situation: the repair guy was supposed to come between 6 and 6:30 pm today, but only turned up at 7:45 pm. He fiddled with the pieces for a few minutes, then said, "Well I don't have the pieces but I can get them tomorrow, what time should I come by?"
I swear, holding my temper in check was one of the hardest things I've ever done. I replied that 2 o clock would suit me (I figured that would give me enough time to get to my meeting at 6 pm) and he said, "Great, then I can pick up the pieces in the morning."
He left and I had a bowl of ice cream to soothe my ruffled feathers. He couldn't have noticed the pieces were missing YESTERDAY?! Now I have to disrupt my schedule AGAIN! I'M TIRED OF STRANGE MEN IN MY APARTMENT!! I WANT PEACE AND QUIET AND NOT HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT STRANGERS HANGING AROUND!!
So. Being warm had better be worth it.
I swear, holding my temper in check was one of the hardest things I've ever done. I replied that 2 o clock would suit me (I figured that would give me enough time to get to my meeting at 6 pm) and he said, "Great, then I can pick up the pieces in the morning."
He left and I had a bowl of ice cream to soothe my ruffled feathers. He couldn't have noticed the pieces were missing YESTERDAY?! Now I have to disrupt my schedule AGAIN! I'M TIRED OF STRANGE MEN IN MY APARTMENT!! I WANT PEACE AND QUIET AND NOT HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT STRANGERS HANGING AROUND!!
So. Being warm had better be worth it.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Heater
So the specialist guy turned up today - I got annoyed because when he called to say he was there I asked if I should go down and let him in he said no, he'd be right up. Five minutes later he calls again so I say I'll go let him in, go get my shoes, and as I'm opening my door I see him walking in. Turns out he was trying to buzz himself in with the speaker system that's set up at the front gate and doesn't work since there's no connection to any of the apartments.
So he finally gets up here and it took him about five minutes to dust off his hands and say, "This heater is completely broken and out of date, you should have it replaced."
I thanked him and he said he'd contact my manager and he left.
Today at 7:50 pm there was a knock on my door and when I opened it an old man with enough bushy hair for a lion's mane was standing there. I immediately wondered if he were some sort of Latter Day Saint trying to convert me, but it turns out the management asked him to check my heater. After one glance he assured me he could recondition it - he's done it before - and would 6:30 pm tomorrow be convenient for him to come and fix it? Apparently it will take 2 hours...I hate the idea of having someone come work in the hours I usually eat and nap in, but I want to be warm, so I said that would be great.
I know I should be grateful that this man is willing to work so late and on such short notice, but I've been grumpy and miserable lately. Maybe being warm will help with that.
So he finally gets up here and it took him about five minutes to dust off his hands and say, "This heater is completely broken and out of date, you should have it replaced."
I thanked him and he said he'd contact my manager and he left.
Today at 7:50 pm there was a knock on my door and when I opened it an old man with enough bushy hair for a lion's mane was standing there. I immediately wondered if he were some sort of Latter Day Saint trying to convert me, but it turns out the management asked him to check my heater. After one glance he assured me he could recondition it - he's done it before - and would 6:30 pm tomorrow be convenient for him to come and fix it? Apparently it will take 2 hours...I hate the idea of having someone come work in the hours I usually eat and nap in, but I want to be warm, so I said that would be great.
I know I should be grateful that this man is willing to work so late and on such short notice, but I've been grumpy and miserable lately. Maybe being warm will help with that.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Rant
The weather has cooled off considerably lately, and anticipating this I called the gas company last week to have them start up my heater and teach me how to turn it on and off. The gas man turned up in plenty of time, tinkered for a few minutes and then explained that my heater was broken, and would need replacement parts before it could work.
So I emailed my landlord and he had maintenance come out that Friday to take a look at the heater. I showed the maintenance man the slip of paper the gas man left, he tinkered around for a few minutes and said he'd have to come back with the right parts, and agreed to come back on Monday at 2pm.
Monday I had class, then went to geology lab to try and study for my test, but it turned out that there was a class in the lab, and when Priscilla and I finally got a chance to go inside, it turned out another class was coming in and we would've only had 15 minutes in there AND all the rocks we had to study for the lab practical were strangely missing!
We were both annoyed and went home, agreeing to call each other if we found any good study tools.
My maintenance guy turned up at 10 minutes to 2, which normally would have been nice, except I was asleep and had set my alarm clock for 5 to 2, which would've been sufficient for any other maintenance man in the world. I guess I shouldn't complain, but it was just another annoying incident. I sat and studied while he tried to get the new part to work, and finally after nearly 40 minutes of fiddling with the heater he admitted defeat and said he'd have to call in a specialist to try and fix it. Turns out my heater is over 40 years old with outdated parts, and I should really have a new one installed, but, according to my maintenance man, the management is too cheap to do anything like that.
He asked what time would be good for the specialist to come and I said, "Two o clock."
This morning I had to get up early and take a terrible geology test - 56 questions! They were a bunch of slides on the internet and at the bottom of each slide there was a question, and we had to write answers on a sheet of paper and turn it in. Some of the questions were easy, but some were awful, made worse by me not being sure if what I was seeing were features in the pictures of rocks, or shadows on my screen.
I was walking home when I realized that I had a voicemail - I tried to listen to it on the road, but I couldn't hear a single word, so I had to get up to my apartment first. Then I was pleased to discover a rambling message in Martian, which after some dedicated replaying turned out to be a voicemail from the specialist - who seems to have an exceptionally weak command on the English language - asking when he could stop by to fix my heater. I tried to call back, found that his phone was off, and left a polite, clear and concise message saying to please stop by between the hours of 2 and 4 pm.
I stayed at home all afternoon, freezing my butt off - my apartment is mostly glass (as you can tell from the pictures) and in the shadow of a taller building so it's cold all the time, and being that it's 60 degrees outside (and will be 50 tonight) it's 60 degrees in here (or feels like it, I don't have any sort of themometer) which is just TOO COLD for a house!
Finally at 6:30pm I gave up and went to Target and got a pair of slippers and a box of cocoa. I was going to get a second throw but they were THIRTY DOLLARS minimum!! The really nice ones? They were SIXTY-FOUR DOLLARS! Considering I spent ten on my nice fuzzy microfiber throw from Big Lots, I absolutely refused to pay that. Absolutely NOT!
I might go back to Big Lots and see if they have more throws...I'm so chilly.
The worst part is that while I was at Target I got a phone call from Moe, the specialist. He was confused that I wasn't at my apartment. I replied as nicely as I knew how that I'd asked him to be there between the hours of 2 and 4 and that he was welcome to come after 2 pm tomorrow. He said that he'd call.
Dinnertime. Hopefully my night improves from here on out.
So I emailed my landlord and he had maintenance come out that Friday to take a look at the heater. I showed the maintenance man the slip of paper the gas man left, he tinkered around for a few minutes and said he'd have to come back with the right parts, and agreed to come back on Monday at 2pm.
Monday I had class, then went to geology lab to try and study for my test, but it turned out that there was a class in the lab, and when Priscilla and I finally got a chance to go inside, it turned out another class was coming in and we would've only had 15 minutes in there AND all the rocks we had to study for the lab practical were strangely missing!
We were both annoyed and went home, agreeing to call each other if we found any good study tools.
My maintenance guy turned up at 10 minutes to 2, which normally would have been nice, except I was asleep and had set my alarm clock for 5 to 2, which would've been sufficient for any other maintenance man in the world. I guess I shouldn't complain, but it was just another annoying incident. I sat and studied while he tried to get the new part to work, and finally after nearly 40 minutes of fiddling with the heater he admitted defeat and said he'd have to call in a specialist to try and fix it. Turns out my heater is over 40 years old with outdated parts, and I should really have a new one installed, but, according to my maintenance man, the management is too cheap to do anything like that.
He asked what time would be good for the specialist to come and I said, "Two o clock."
This morning I had to get up early and take a terrible geology test - 56 questions! They were a bunch of slides on the internet and at the bottom of each slide there was a question, and we had to write answers on a sheet of paper and turn it in. Some of the questions were easy, but some were awful, made worse by me not being sure if what I was seeing were features in the pictures of rocks, or shadows on my screen.
I was walking home when I realized that I had a voicemail - I tried to listen to it on the road, but I couldn't hear a single word, so I had to get up to my apartment first. Then I was pleased to discover a rambling message in Martian, which after some dedicated replaying turned out to be a voicemail from the specialist - who seems to have an exceptionally weak command on the English language - asking when he could stop by to fix my heater. I tried to call back, found that his phone was off, and left a polite, clear and concise message saying to please stop by between the hours of 2 and 4 pm.
I stayed at home all afternoon, freezing my butt off - my apartment is mostly glass (as you can tell from the pictures) and in the shadow of a taller building so it's cold all the time, and being that it's 60 degrees outside (and will be 50 tonight) it's 60 degrees in here (or feels like it, I don't have any sort of themometer) which is just TOO COLD for a house!
Finally at 6:30pm I gave up and went to Target and got a pair of slippers and a box of cocoa. I was going to get a second throw but they were THIRTY DOLLARS minimum!! The really nice ones? They were SIXTY-FOUR DOLLARS! Considering I spent ten on my nice fuzzy microfiber throw from Big Lots, I absolutely refused to pay that. Absolutely NOT!
I might go back to Big Lots and see if they have more throws...I'm so chilly.
The worst part is that while I was at Target I got a phone call from Moe, the specialist. He was confused that I wasn't at my apartment. I replied as nicely as I knew how that I'd asked him to be there between the hours of 2 and 4 and that he was welcome to come after 2 pm tomorrow. He said that he'd call.
Dinnertime. Hopefully my night improves from here on out.
Friday, November 5, 2010
Burning the midnight oil
I am SO tired. I got up at 6 today because I woke up and looked at my clock and saw that it was 6:03 and thought, "Oh no! My alarm didn't go off!" So I went to the bathroom and washed my face. As I was walking towards the kitchen to make my morning waffle I suddenly stopped and realized - I get up at 6:40 am, not 6:00 am. I went back to bed for half an hour but couldn't really sleep. When I got up properly at 6:40 I was grumpy and started for class tired out and it required putting The Goo Goo Dolls on my MP3 player to soothe me enough to go into class in a halfway reasonable mood.
Class was ok, kinda boring, and we have ANOTHER lab set as homework. I went home and took a nap before getting up at 2 and starting to work. While working on my job I called the California DMV (since my license still hasn't arrived) and put my phone on speakerphone while I typed - I was on hold for half an hour and this was after they dropped my first call after holding goodness knows how long. Turns out that my birth certificate "isn't valid" (since it's not American) and it might take as much as 12 months before I get my California license, and I was given a number to call where I get a busy signal for 4 seconds before it hangs up on me. I'm going to wake up at 8 am tomorrow and call and see what happens.
I spent all evening working - from 2pm til 12 am, with a half-hour break for dinner. That's 9 1/2 hours of straight work. I'm really glad I did it though - I've gotten 41 summary sheets done and I've done my allotted 20 hours for the week without having to work on Friday!
And yes, I have backed them all up already. I'm starting to wonder if I should back them up on two drives...but that's just paranoid, right?
My original intention for doing this was to take the weekend off, but that's totally not happening. I won't have to do any NAGPRA work (which is great, because my brain is aching practically worse than the back of my neck right now) but I have a lab that's due next week, a midterm next Tuesday, 8 chapters of reading to do, 4 articles to read, a midterm that's due on the 15th, I have to start a final project for one class and I have 6 essays to write for another class by the end of the semester. And I'm supposed to be reading 7 other books for Dr. Lipo, and I haven't even STARTED work on the project I'm doing for the SAAs yet.
I don't care how much work I have though, I'm watching my Britcoms tomorrow night, with a beer and some droewors. Also, I'm going to try out my new harvard beet recipe on Sunday.
Okay, my neck and back are killing me. I think it's time to lie down. Goodnight!
Class was ok, kinda boring, and we have ANOTHER lab set as homework. I went home and took a nap before getting up at 2 and starting to work. While working on my job I called the California DMV (since my license still hasn't arrived) and put my phone on speakerphone while I typed - I was on hold for half an hour and this was after they dropped my first call after holding goodness knows how long. Turns out that my birth certificate "isn't valid" (since it's not American) and it might take as much as 12 months before I get my California license, and I was given a number to call where I get a busy signal for 4 seconds before it hangs up on me. I'm going to wake up at 8 am tomorrow and call and see what happens.
I spent all evening working - from 2pm til 12 am, with a half-hour break for dinner. That's 9 1/2 hours of straight work. I'm really glad I did it though - I've gotten 41 summary sheets done and I've done my allotted 20 hours for the week without having to work on Friday!
And yes, I have backed them all up already. I'm starting to wonder if I should back them up on two drives...but that's just paranoid, right?
My original intention for doing this was to take the weekend off, but that's totally not happening. I won't have to do any NAGPRA work (which is great, because my brain is aching practically worse than the back of my neck right now) but I have a lab that's due next week, a midterm next Tuesday, 8 chapters of reading to do, 4 articles to read, a midterm that's due on the 15th, I have to start a final project for one class and I have 6 essays to write for another class by the end of the semester. And I'm supposed to be reading 7 other books for Dr. Lipo, and I haven't even STARTED work on the project I'm doing for the SAAs yet.
I don't care how much work I have though, I'm watching my Britcoms tomorrow night, with a beer and some droewors. Also, I'm going to try out my new harvard beet recipe on Sunday.
Okay, my neck and back are killing me. I think it's time to lie down. Goodnight!
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
RIP Big Blue
So my big laptop seems to be dead. There's some fatal error on the hard drive - it just keeps starting over and over and has an error message about booting. I've given up. I should get paid tomorrow, and if I do, I'll go online and order a new laptop. I planned on getting a new one for myself at Christmas, but I really can't do all my work on my mini netbook for the next two months so I'll just have to suck it up and spend the money now.
The bit that really upsets me is that I lost some of my schoolwork and all of my Halloween pictures from this weekend. And I was so proud of my makeup/costume :(
I didn't get a lot done today, which is really annoying, but I do have a detailed list of everything I have to do in the next two weeks, so at least I can feel adequately informed about what I DO have to do. The biggest reason I didn't get a lot done today is that I had to rush home from class and wait for the gas company guy to show up (which he did halfway through the allotted window) and after he got here and fiddled around with my heater for ten minutes he informed me that parts were missing and my maintenance man would have to fix it before it could be used. After he left I tried to turn on my computer to email my landlord and that was when I discovered the error.
I turned on my mini netbook and sent off my emails, but I was pretty upset and then when I tried to finish reading a required article for tomorrow I found that there was some sort of error - I guess something is wrong with adobe on this computer? - so I sent off another email to my professor explaining my computer problems, and tried to settle down to reading a different article, but my concentration was shot.
I've tried to have the tv off, the tv on, music off, music on, chewing gum, nibbling on crackers, sipping water, sitting at my desk, sitting in my armchair with my feet propped up...concentration was just not happening today.
I think I'll just go to bed now, get up early tomorrow and try and get some extra work done then. On Monday I woke up at 8 am and couldn't go back to sleep (I only leave for class around 10:20 am) so I scrubbed my stove almost clean. It still needs some scrubbing and I need to lift the top bit and clean under the gas pipes, but I can do that this weekend when I've knocked most of my work out of the way.
Rest in peace, big laptop.
The bit that really upsets me is that I lost some of my schoolwork and all of my Halloween pictures from this weekend. And I was so proud of my makeup/costume :(
I didn't get a lot done today, which is really annoying, but I do have a detailed list of everything I have to do in the next two weeks, so at least I can feel adequately informed about what I DO have to do. The biggest reason I didn't get a lot done today is that I had to rush home from class and wait for the gas company guy to show up (which he did halfway through the allotted window) and after he got here and fiddled around with my heater for ten minutes he informed me that parts were missing and my maintenance man would have to fix it before it could be used. After he left I tried to turn on my computer to email my landlord and that was when I discovered the error.
I turned on my mini netbook and sent off my emails, but I was pretty upset and then when I tried to finish reading a required article for tomorrow I found that there was some sort of error - I guess something is wrong with adobe on this computer? - so I sent off another email to my professor explaining my computer problems, and tried to settle down to reading a different article, but my concentration was shot.
I've tried to have the tv off, the tv on, music off, music on, chewing gum, nibbling on crackers, sipping water, sitting at my desk, sitting in my armchair with my feet propped up...concentration was just not happening today.
I think I'll just go to bed now, get up early tomorrow and try and get some extra work done then. On Monday I woke up at 8 am and couldn't go back to sleep (I only leave for class around 10:20 am) so I scrubbed my stove almost clean. It still needs some scrubbing and I need to lift the top bit and clean under the gas pipes, but I can do that this weekend when I've knocked most of my work out of the way.
Rest in peace, big laptop.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Mommy of the Year Award
goes to MY mom! I got home from class and saw a package outside my door. I knew Mom was sending me a knife I bought off Amazon, but the package was way too big for one little paring knife.
The first thing I saw when I opened the box was CANDY! I didn't have to trick or treat and I still got loot!! It's the good stuff too, gobstoppers, twixes, m&ms and twizzlers...yum!
Mom also sent along not only my knife, but my new Elle, several of my Sports Illustrated magazines, three new murder mysteries (yes!!), a purse I'd stupidly left behind, a can of water chestnuts AND (drumroll please) a bottle of Patak's Biryani Paste! You can get it here but only for $6 a jar (considering Mom pays like $2.50 I wasn't going to spend that) so I'm very very excited and happy about that. I love biryani. I remember the first time I had it in South Africa - at 13 - after years and years of not eating it in America. It was just the regular old canned kind, nothing to get excited about if you're a normal South African who has constant access to it, but to me it tasted like manna from heaven, it was SO good!
So I have the best mom in the whole world. Yay!
The first thing I saw when I opened the box was CANDY! I didn't have to trick or treat and I still got loot!! It's the good stuff too, gobstoppers, twixes, m&ms and twizzlers...yum!
Mom also sent along not only my knife, but my new Elle, several of my Sports Illustrated magazines, three new murder mysteries (yes!!), a purse I'd stupidly left behind, a can of water chestnuts AND (drumroll please) a bottle of Patak's Biryani Paste! You can get it here but only for $6 a jar (considering Mom pays like $2.50 I wasn't going to spend that) so I'm very very excited and happy about that. I love biryani. I remember the first time I had it in South Africa - at 13 - after years and years of not eating it in America. It was just the regular old canned kind, nothing to get excited about if you're a normal South African who has constant access to it, but to me it tasted like manna from heaven, it was SO good!
So I have the best mom in the whole world. Yay!
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Happy Hallowe'en!
What a weekend! And thankfully, I mean that in a good way.
Friday I slept in, luxuriating in getting to turn my alarm clock off without having to get out of bed. Once I got up, however, I had a quick breakfast before starting work on my NAGPRA stuff once more - even though I'm not supposed to work on Fridays, I just wanted to get back to where I had been before the evil ThinkPoint virus ruined my week. Which I did around one-ish, and gladly saved it all and finished up my Halloween costume.
Despite my neighbor being a jerk and not throwing a party - and I couldn't really throw one, not when you consider the terrible parking situation (there is none for non-residents), the lack of seating in my apartment, and the fact that the biggest screen I have for watching scary movies on is my 17" laptop - I found suitable weekend entertainment.
Friday night I went to a show that was also a costume party at this venue near the marina. I met my friend Clinton there - he was dressed up as a greaser (like on of the Thunderbirds from the movie Grease), and I wore my sari and was an Indian princess. I'll post pictures of all that later.
The show was okay - the bands weren't very good, sadly. The first band I heard I liked. They're called Seven Year War and they're a nice band to listen to at a show, though I'm not sure I'd buy a cd of theirs. I imagined they would be the lower end of the talent spectrum as they were playing pretty early, but the other bands were pretty awful, and the two we went to see were nowhere to be found. We think they might have been in the VIP room downstairs, which really doesn't make sense. Why advertise bands and then have them in VIP??
A little before midnight the bouncers started circulating and warning everyone that if they parked in the marina they would be towed (even though we were originally instructed to park there) so I immediately rushed downstairs to save my car. So many people stepped on my sari I had to pick up the trailing end and throw it around my shoulders. Of COURSE they had to step on my gorgeous blue silk sari just when I was in a huge rush!
I parked my car near where Clinton had parked, in a safe parking lot. We decided to not bother going back to the show but went to In N Out Burger instead (I LOVE it there - they have milkshakes made with REAL ice cream for $2!!!!!) I had a chocolate shake and fries...yum! I was disappointed to be home so early, but at least I'd gone out and had a pretty good time...and I need more practice wearing a sari before I can wear it for long periods comfortably.
Saturday morning I went to Jo-Ann's looking for curtainstuffs, but I couldn't find anything I liked. I'll go again for the Veteran's Day sales, because I'm so sick of having those awful gaps in my blinds. I hate that anyone could peek in and see my bed, my armchair or my desk. On the plus side, this way I have more time to determine just HOW I'm going to hang these curtains. Honestly, I'm leaning towards duct tape. I'm a graduate student after all.
Saturday night I went to the Long Beach Shakespeare Company's reproduction of "War of the Worlds" as it was broadcast on October 30th, 1938. I loved that I was there on October 30th (it was given on the 29th and today as well), the 72nd anniversary of that legendary radio show. It started off so slowly, but after the first 10 minutes they got to the actual meat of the show and it was fascinating and creepy. The theatre itself was TINY! The stage was probably some six feet by twelve, and the seats were five rows of eight seats (if I remember correctly) and the castmembers sat on chairs with music stands before them holding their lines. It was adorable though, and I think I'll go see their rendition of A Christmas Carol this December.
I was really sad, when I read the program, to find that they'd just given Much Ado About Nothing (which is my FAVORITE Shakespearean play) so they probably won't give it again for ages. Seeing the Royal Shakespeare Company give Much Ado About Nothing in London is practically #1 on my bucket list.
When I got out of the play I was disappointed to find out that it was only 9:20, so I called Clinton to see if he was busy and he suggested I drive to his local movie theatre and we see the movie Red (about retired CIA operatives going on a personal mission to find out who ordered hits on them). I managed to find the theatre on my Garmin GPS - I apologize again to Dad for originally saying I didn't want or need one - and got there at 10, perfect timing for a 10:20 showing. On the way there I drove down a very long, very slopey, very scary hill. I had my brakes on the whole time and was inwardly cursing having gotten my drivers' training in Florida where a "hill" and a speedbump are about the same height and about equally as intimidating.
The movie was so funny! I'm glad there are so many baby boomers - without them I'm sure a movie like Red would never be made, and I'm hoping there are more like it in the future. I'm so sick of the boy-meets-girl, boy-loses-girl, boy-gets-girl-back flicks that I've seen my whole life. I highly recommend you go see Red as soon as possible.
We got out a little after midnight and I drove home blasting Lady GaGa and actually enjoying the driving after a fashion - although I'm still unhappy with the highways. I'm starting to get to know the 405 and 605 a little better now, so that's very reassuring. I think the reason I liked driving so much more in Florida is because I knew every road so intimately. I could probably drive from Gainesville to Orlando and back with my eyes closed if there were no other vehicles to contend with.
Today I got up late again and lounged around for an hour or so before making up my shopping lists and getting my groceries. Trader Joe's was abnormally crowded today, as was Sam's Club, and the mass of people really dampened my spirits. They would shove, push, or stop completely and block my way and then ignore me as I called "Excuse me, could I please get by?" I wanted to stomp and scream and generally act like a five year old but I just bit my lip and "Ah-HEM!"'d very loudly until I could get to where I wanted to go.
Thankfully, Ralph's was relatively empty and I relaxed a little there. I saw whole young turkeys for $20 and I'm starting to wonder if I dare get a whole turkey for Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, I can't get one early and store it because my freezer is full of waffles, frozen lunches for weekdays, my bought-in-bulk chicken thighs and even some ice cream.
For lunch I made a double-batch of latkes. My reason for this was that last week I bought a bag of potatoes that were on sale and this morning when I was making up my list I saw that one was mouldy already and the rest were soft, and I realized I'd have to cook them all immediately or lose them. So I bought more potatoes (I made sure these were nice) and used all my old ones in latkes. Sadly, I couldn't eat even one batch, so the rest are in my fridge, to be tomorrow's lunch. I haven't even had dinner, I feel too ludicrously full.
In a somewhat related note, I have a very sensitive smoke alarm.
This is some of the first batch I made...I've washed everything but the big pan and the spatulas, and I'm so not looking forward to any of that.
Tonight I made a ponche for the very first time - when I called home on Friday before the play Mom and Dad were making their first one of the season so I wanted some too. Ever since I was a little girl I've watched Dad pour sugar and water into a glass pitcher, cut little circles of citrus skin off oranges and lemons, drop them in, then halve the fruits and squeeze in the juice. When I tried to do it myself I first couldn't remember how much water to add, so I called Mom and Dad and asked. Turns out you add as much water as you're going to add vodka.
So I had my water and my sugar waiting, and started trying to cut the circles off of the citruses. Turns out that that is NOWHERE near as easy as it looks and I'm going to have to watch Dad very carefully when I get home and he makes a ponche.
Also, I managed to make some of the "circles" (perhaps "pieces" would be a better word) go flying instead of neatly lying there for me to put in the pitcher.
But I got it done eventually.
The remains.
My very first glass of my very first ponche.
My ponche doesn't taste like Dad's - probably because I had to use limes instead of lemons (I was given limes by the Anthro secretary since she has a tree or something, and I looked at lemons in the store today and they were SO expensive), and only three big oranges that didn't have much juice because I got them from the store and they didn't have a lot of nice ones, although I chose the best I could find.
But it's still ponche, and it still tasted just that little bit like home. It makes me think of a line I read once in a book - "That first evening in the camp the drink was more than a tradition: it was an achievement."
I think it's time for bed now. Happy Halloween everybody!
Friday I slept in, luxuriating in getting to turn my alarm clock off without having to get out of bed. Once I got up, however, I had a quick breakfast before starting work on my NAGPRA stuff once more - even though I'm not supposed to work on Fridays, I just wanted to get back to where I had been before the evil ThinkPoint virus ruined my week. Which I did around one-ish, and gladly saved it all and finished up my Halloween costume.
Despite my neighbor being a jerk and not throwing a party - and I couldn't really throw one, not when you consider the terrible parking situation (there is none for non-residents), the lack of seating in my apartment, and the fact that the biggest screen I have for watching scary movies on is my 17" laptop - I found suitable weekend entertainment.
Friday night I went to a show that was also a costume party at this venue near the marina. I met my friend Clinton there - he was dressed up as a greaser (like on of the Thunderbirds from the movie Grease), and I wore my sari and was an Indian princess. I'll post pictures of all that later.
The show was okay - the bands weren't very good, sadly. The first band I heard I liked. They're called Seven Year War and they're a nice band to listen to at a show, though I'm not sure I'd buy a cd of theirs. I imagined they would be the lower end of the talent spectrum as they were playing pretty early, but the other bands were pretty awful, and the two we went to see were nowhere to be found. We think they might have been in the VIP room downstairs, which really doesn't make sense. Why advertise bands and then have them in VIP??
A little before midnight the bouncers started circulating and warning everyone that if they parked in the marina they would be towed (even though we were originally instructed to park there) so I immediately rushed downstairs to save my car. So many people stepped on my sari I had to pick up the trailing end and throw it around my shoulders. Of COURSE they had to step on my gorgeous blue silk sari just when I was in a huge rush!
I parked my car near where Clinton had parked, in a safe parking lot. We decided to not bother going back to the show but went to In N Out Burger instead (I LOVE it there - they have milkshakes made with REAL ice cream for $2!!!!!) I had a chocolate shake and fries...yum! I was disappointed to be home so early, but at least I'd gone out and had a pretty good time...and I need more practice wearing a sari before I can wear it for long periods comfortably.
Saturday morning I went to Jo-Ann's looking for curtainstuffs, but I couldn't find anything I liked. I'll go again for the Veteran's Day sales, because I'm so sick of having those awful gaps in my blinds. I hate that anyone could peek in and see my bed, my armchair or my desk. On the plus side, this way I have more time to determine just HOW I'm going to hang these curtains. Honestly, I'm leaning towards duct tape. I'm a graduate student after all.
Saturday night I went to the Long Beach Shakespeare Company's reproduction of "War of the Worlds" as it was broadcast on October 30th, 1938. I loved that I was there on October 30th (it was given on the 29th and today as well), the 72nd anniversary of that legendary radio show. It started off so slowly, but after the first 10 minutes they got to the actual meat of the show and it was fascinating and creepy. The theatre itself was TINY! The stage was probably some six feet by twelve, and the seats were five rows of eight seats (if I remember correctly) and the castmembers sat on chairs with music stands before them holding their lines. It was adorable though, and I think I'll go see their rendition of A Christmas Carol this December.
I was really sad, when I read the program, to find that they'd just given Much Ado About Nothing (which is my FAVORITE Shakespearean play) so they probably won't give it again for ages. Seeing the Royal Shakespeare Company give Much Ado About Nothing in London is practically #1 on my bucket list.
When I got out of the play I was disappointed to find out that it was only 9:20, so I called Clinton to see if he was busy and he suggested I drive to his local movie theatre and we see the movie Red (about retired CIA operatives going on a personal mission to find out who ordered hits on them). I managed to find the theatre on my Garmin GPS - I apologize again to Dad for originally saying I didn't want or need one - and got there at 10, perfect timing for a 10:20 showing. On the way there I drove down a very long, very slopey, very scary hill. I had my brakes on the whole time and was inwardly cursing having gotten my drivers' training in Florida where a "hill" and a speedbump are about the same height and about equally as intimidating.
The movie was so funny! I'm glad there are so many baby boomers - without them I'm sure a movie like Red would never be made, and I'm hoping there are more like it in the future. I'm so sick of the boy-meets-girl, boy-loses-girl, boy-gets-girl-back flicks that I've seen my whole life. I highly recommend you go see Red as soon as possible.
We got out a little after midnight and I drove home blasting Lady GaGa and actually enjoying the driving after a fashion - although I'm still unhappy with the highways. I'm starting to get to know the 405 and 605 a little better now, so that's very reassuring. I think the reason I liked driving so much more in Florida is because I knew every road so intimately. I could probably drive from Gainesville to Orlando and back with my eyes closed if there were no other vehicles to contend with.
Today I got up late again and lounged around for an hour or so before making up my shopping lists and getting my groceries. Trader Joe's was abnormally crowded today, as was Sam's Club, and the mass of people really dampened my spirits. They would shove, push, or stop completely and block my way and then ignore me as I called "Excuse me, could I please get by?" I wanted to stomp and scream and generally act like a five year old but I just bit my lip and "Ah-HEM!"'d very loudly until I could get to where I wanted to go.
Thankfully, Ralph's was relatively empty and I relaxed a little there. I saw whole young turkeys for $20 and I'm starting to wonder if I dare get a whole turkey for Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, I can't get one early and store it because my freezer is full of waffles, frozen lunches for weekdays, my bought-in-bulk chicken thighs and even some ice cream.
For lunch I made a double-batch of latkes. My reason for this was that last week I bought a bag of potatoes that were on sale and this morning when I was making up my list I saw that one was mouldy already and the rest were soft, and I realized I'd have to cook them all immediately or lose them. So I bought more potatoes (I made sure these were nice) and used all my old ones in latkes. Sadly, I couldn't eat even one batch, so the rest are in my fridge, to be tomorrow's lunch. I haven't even had dinner, I feel too ludicrously full.
In a somewhat related note, I have a very sensitive smoke alarm.
This is some of the first batch I made...I've washed everything but the big pan and the spatulas, and I'm so not looking forward to any of that.
Tonight I made a ponche for the very first time - when I called home on Friday before the play Mom and Dad were making their first one of the season so I wanted some too. Ever since I was a little girl I've watched Dad pour sugar and water into a glass pitcher, cut little circles of citrus skin off oranges and lemons, drop them in, then halve the fruits and squeeze in the juice. When I tried to do it myself I first couldn't remember how much water to add, so I called Mom and Dad and asked. Turns out you add as much water as you're going to add vodka.
So I had my water and my sugar waiting, and started trying to cut the circles off of the citruses. Turns out that that is NOWHERE near as easy as it looks and I'm going to have to watch Dad very carefully when I get home and he makes a ponche.
Also, I managed to make some of the "circles" (perhaps "pieces" would be a better word) go flying instead of neatly lying there for me to put in the pitcher.
But I got it done eventually.
The remains.
My very first glass of my very first ponche.
My ponche doesn't taste like Dad's - probably because I had to use limes instead of lemons (I was given limes by the Anthro secretary since she has a tree or something, and I looked at lemons in the store today and they were SO expensive), and only three big oranges that didn't have much juice because I got them from the store and they didn't have a lot of nice ones, although I chose the best I could find.
But it's still ponche, and it still tasted just that little bit like home. It makes me think of a line I read once in a book - "That first evening in the camp the drink was more than a tradition: it was an achievement."
I think it's time for bed now. Happy Halloween everybody!
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
A Concatenation of Unfortunate Circumstances
So I spent the weekend feverishly sewing and being excited about Halloween - all until Saturday night when I texted my neighbor to ask if he was holding his party (which he has been bragging about since August) on Friday night or Saturday night. He replied that he wasn't throwing it anymore because he has too much work (he's a film major and has been bragging about how far ahead he is of his class all semester). Hence, my night was ruined, and all the grocery shopping I did on Sunday didn't really cheer me up, except for the pumpkin carving.
Yes, I, for the first time in my life, carved a pumpkin!
My pattern!
Where the guts were...
The guts
Carved pumpkin 1
Carved pumpkin 2
My jack-o-lanterns glowing in the dark!!!
Sunday I also fixed my computer - it had been refusing to run virus scans for weeks now because of overheating issues. Here is how I overcame that difficulty:
Monday, however, is when the REAL craziness happened. I got a fatal virus on my big laptop (whom I have named Big Blue - my mini netbook is named MiniCarla) and when I couldn't get rid of it I had to perform a system restore. That's right, back to out-of-box condition!
I managed to get it wiped before I rushed to campus for the AGSA (Anthropology Graduate Student Association) meeting, which ended 40 minutes before class started so I ran to the Nugget and had a quick blonde ale and caught the beginning of the game before trudging off to class. Funny thing about being tipsy and trying to subjectively analyze Karl Marx and Marxism and a sociocultural theory: it doesn't work. You can't focus.
Our prof was sick so we got off an hour and a half early (it's a three hour class), which was FANTASTIC, and I went home and cooked myself a lovely dinner, watched tv for an hour while I tried to reinstall stuff on my computer. Turns out I hadn't backed up my files for a couple weeks (well, I tried on Sunday night and it did back up SOME of my files before the computer overheated and I gave up) so I lost all of the NAGPRA work I've done for my job for the past three weeks. I'm everlastingly thankful I emailed a good deal of it to my professor so I could download the files from my sent emails, otherwise my situation would be so much worse. I was terrified that he'd be really mad at me, but he responded to my email with one word: "Blargh!" so I THINK he's not mad, just empathizing with my pain. I hope.
Tuesday I had my early class, went, came home and passed out, then got up and started working on my laptop again. At 4:30 I had to stop and go to a CLASC (College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Committee) meeting, and finally dragged myself home at half past six. I tried to resurrect my bookmarks, and I've found a dozen of the most important ones, but I'm still missing a ton of my favorites which sucks. I'll find them eventually, I'm sure, but it's such a pain. And I thought I'd made a word document of my favorite bookmarks after the last system restore I had to do, and I can't find it, so apparently I didn't. I think I'm going to have to do that this time though.
I managed to get the printer working - you have to download software from the internet when you have no idea where your cd is, and I kept trying to download the wrong damn software - as well as Skype and AIM and went to bed early again, being very tired.
Today I only had one class and absolutely had to nap after it too. I've been so tired lately, it's ridiculous. I've gotten some of my NAGPRA catch-up done but I'm meeting a friend for dinner soon so I'll have to finish it later...then early class tomorrow, a lunchtime theory meeting with Dr. Lipo and the other archaeology students, and then there's an anthropology mixer from 5-8 pm. After that I'm finally free to a) finish my NAGPRA work for the week, b) finish sewing my Halloween costume and c) sleep.
Except that the Project Runway Season Finale is on at 9, so while I might be sewing during that, you can be assured I will not be working or sleeping!!
Yes, I, for the first time in my life, carved a pumpkin!
My pattern!
Where the guts were...
The guts
Carved pumpkin 1
Carved pumpkin 2
My jack-o-lanterns glowing in the dark!!!
Sunday I also fixed my computer - it had been refusing to run virus scans for weeks now because of overheating issues. Here is how I overcame that difficulty:
Monday, however, is when the REAL craziness happened. I got a fatal virus on my big laptop (whom I have named Big Blue - my mini netbook is named MiniCarla) and when I couldn't get rid of it I had to perform a system restore. That's right, back to out-of-box condition!
I managed to get it wiped before I rushed to campus for the AGSA (Anthropology Graduate Student Association) meeting, which ended 40 minutes before class started so I ran to the Nugget and had a quick blonde ale and caught the beginning of the game before trudging off to class. Funny thing about being tipsy and trying to subjectively analyze Karl Marx and Marxism and a sociocultural theory: it doesn't work. You can't focus.
Our prof was sick so we got off an hour and a half early (it's a three hour class), which was FANTASTIC, and I went home and cooked myself a lovely dinner, watched tv for an hour while I tried to reinstall stuff on my computer. Turns out I hadn't backed up my files for a couple weeks (well, I tried on Sunday night and it did back up SOME of my files before the computer overheated and I gave up) so I lost all of the NAGPRA work I've done for my job for the past three weeks. I'm everlastingly thankful I emailed a good deal of it to my professor so I could download the files from my sent emails, otherwise my situation would be so much worse. I was terrified that he'd be really mad at me, but he responded to my email with one word: "Blargh!" so I THINK he's not mad, just empathizing with my pain. I hope.
Tuesday I had my early class, went, came home and passed out, then got up and started working on my laptop again. At 4:30 I had to stop and go to a CLASC (College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Committee) meeting, and finally dragged myself home at half past six. I tried to resurrect my bookmarks, and I've found a dozen of the most important ones, but I'm still missing a ton of my favorites which sucks. I'll find them eventually, I'm sure, but it's such a pain. And I thought I'd made a word document of my favorite bookmarks after the last system restore I had to do, and I can't find it, so apparently I didn't. I think I'm going to have to do that this time though.
I managed to get the printer working - you have to download software from the internet when you have no idea where your cd is, and I kept trying to download the wrong damn software - as well as Skype and AIM and went to bed early again, being very tired.
Today I only had one class and absolutely had to nap after it too. I've been so tired lately, it's ridiculous. I've gotten some of my NAGPRA catch-up done but I'm meeting a friend for dinner soon so I'll have to finish it later...then early class tomorrow, a lunchtime theory meeting with Dr. Lipo and the other archaeology students, and then there's an anthropology mixer from 5-8 pm. After that I'm finally free to a) finish my NAGPRA work for the week, b) finish sewing my Halloween costume and c) sleep.
Except that the Project Runway Season Finale is on at 9, so while I might be sewing during that, you can be assured I will not be working or sleeping!!
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Busy afternoon
When I got home today after stopping at the bank for laundry quarters I found out that my water was shut off AGAIN. Turns out it wasn't my apartment complex's fault this time, but the water department - they were digging up a main in the street and had to shut off all the water. Of course, the minute you're not allowed to go to the bathroom or wash your hands or drink you desperately want to...plus I couldn't do laundry!! This lasted from when I got home (around 11:50 am) til 4:20 pm when I finally decided to call and complain. I had the number dialed and thought, "Well, let's check one last time" and it FINALLY worked!
I'm a bit iffy about the water, but if I get sick I'm used to it, there's plenty of medicine in the house.
Once the water got turned on I managed to get my laundry sorted and started, I washed all my dishes, cleaned my sink, took out all the trash and then I sorted the hang-dry from the tumble dry and my clothes are currently tumbling away or dripping gently in the closet. And that all took less than two hours! Amazing!
I'm making stir-fry tonight in order to use up some of my asparagus and I also need to make chickpea salad so that my parsley doesn't wilt and die. So once my laundry is done I'm going to be chained to the kitchen for awhile. Not that I really mind, I love cooking.
I've decided to get a jack-o-lantern pumpkin and use the flesh for this yummy looking pumpkin soup recipe I found online. I tried to see if there was a better pumpkin than the jack-o-lantern to eat, but apparently it's good if you season it correctly. I don't care what anyone says, I am NOT using cinnamon!!!
Thanksgiving Menu update: I can't decide whether to make fresh white bread (so I can use the leftovers for gourmet french toast) or cornbread muffins. Decisions...decisions...I think half the fun of holidays is getting to plan the menu!
I found a yummy looking harvard beet recipe so I'm really excited and hoping mine will taste as nice (dare I hope nicer??) than the ones you can't get in supermarkets here.
This should be a good weekend. I'm going to check out at least one farmers' market in hope of finding annonnas...maybe two or three, they're so worth it!
I'm a bit iffy about the water, but if I get sick I'm used to it, there's plenty of medicine in the house.
Once the water got turned on I managed to get my laundry sorted and started, I washed all my dishes, cleaned my sink, took out all the trash and then I sorted the hang-dry from the tumble dry and my clothes are currently tumbling away or dripping gently in the closet. And that all took less than two hours! Amazing!
I'm making stir-fry tonight in order to use up some of my asparagus and I also need to make chickpea salad so that my parsley doesn't wilt and die. So once my laundry is done I'm going to be chained to the kitchen for awhile. Not that I really mind, I love cooking.
I've decided to get a jack-o-lantern pumpkin and use the flesh for this yummy looking pumpkin soup recipe I found online. I tried to see if there was a better pumpkin than the jack-o-lantern to eat, but apparently it's good if you season it correctly. I don't care what anyone says, I am NOT using cinnamon!!!
Thanksgiving Menu update: I can't decide whether to make fresh white bread (so I can use the leftovers for gourmet french toast) or cornbread muffins. Decisions...decisions...I think half the fun of holidays is getting to plan the menu!
I found a yummy looking harvard beet recipe so I'm really excited and hoping mine will taste as nice (dare I hope nicer??) than the ones you can't get in supermarkets here.
This should be a good weekend. I'm going to check out at least one farmers' market in hope of finding annonnas...maybe two or three, they're so worth it!
Facepalm
Today in geology class Crystal was talking about some islands off of the coast that she wants to work on for her thesis. I asked if she was talking about Catalina Island and she and Priscilla laughed and explained that Catalina was near here, and the channel islands are up in Santa Barbara.
I replied, "Yeah, the geology of California is completely over my head."
Richie started laughing and I realized what I'd said.
"Geography even! Both of them are over my head!!"
Oh, the facepalm-y glory.
I replied, "Yeah, the geology of California is completely over my head."
Richie started laughing and I realized what I'd said.
"Geography even! Both of them are over my head!!"
Oh, the facepalm-y glory.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
To-Do List
Tonight I'm busy working late on my NAGPRA stuff because even though I was nominally working on it yesterday I was mostly sitting staring at the screen thinking "I'm hungry". That's cheating so I'm putting in "overtime" today, although I DO have Mythbusters on the tv...it's okay, I'm working late, anything goes, right?
I was getting all muzzy so I made a new To-Do List (it's one of my new favorite things to do, other than planning my Thanksgiving menu which is totally impossible because I want to make a million things and it's really not feasible to make a ten course meal for just me!) and decided to post it here:
To-Do List 10/10
- Go to Library (register)
- Register for CSULB gym
- Clean bathroom
- NAGPRA work
- Theory Paper(s)
- Study Geologic Time Scale
- Laundry (stop by bank and get quarters)
- Call doctor for appointment
- Call gas company about heater
- Clean gas heater
- Read for geology
- Read for CRM
- Read for theory
- Have fun :)
Okay I've wasted enough time. Back to the inventory!
I was getting all muzzy so I made a new To-Do List (it's one of my new favorite things to do, other than planning my Thanksgiving menu which is totally impossible because I want to make a million things and it's really not feasible to make a ten course meal for just me!) and decided to post it here:
To-Do List 10/10
- Go to Library (register)
- Register for CSULB gym
- Clean bathroom
- NAGPRA work
- Theory Paper(s)
- Study Geologic Time Scale
- Laundry (stop by bank and get quarters)
- Call doctor for appointment
- Call gas company about heater
- Clean gas heater
- Read for geology
- Read for CRM
- Read for theory
- Have fun :)
Okay I've wasted enough time. Back to the inventory!
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Rainbeau
Last night I got an email from my geology professor saying he was sick and would send another email later telling us whether or not we had class. I woke up at 6:40 am this morning and checked my email and sure enough class was canceled, so I went back to bed.
I've been coughing again for the past few days and when I woke up the first time I was coughing pretty badly. When I woke up the second time (at 11!!!) I felt much better and I haven't coughed too badly since. I wonder if there has ever been a study done that shows an easement in illness depending on when you went to bed and got up?
More importantly, when I woke up at 6:40 I realized it had rained through the night and spent a few minutes at my window, watching the cars rush by on wet streets. When I woke up at 11 am it was pouring with rain and even had an occasional roll of thunder, and I spent a much longer time at my window enjoying it. Now as I sit at my desk my kitchen window and 12 foot window are both open so I can smell the rain (and my apartment can air out).
I have a lot of work to do today and I have to go to Best Buy to get one of those wrist rests because I've been getting serious sharp pains in my wrists and right elbow. I called Mom and Dad and mentioned it and they insisted I get one right away because it can lead to my wrists being too crippled to type!! Of course, that was Thursday night so I didn't do it then, but I really have to do it today.
Okay I think the weather is clearing up some, time to go find a best buy!
I've been coughing again for the past few days and when I woke up the first time I was coughing pretty badly. When I woke up the second time (at 11!!!) I felt much better and I haven't coughed too badly since. I wonder if there has ever been a study done that shows an easement in illness depending on when you went to bed and got up?
More importantly, when I woke up at 6:40 I realized it had rained through the night and spent a few minutes at my window, watching the cars rush by on wet streets. When I woke up at 11 am it was pouring with rain and even had an occasional roll of thunder, and I spent a much longer time at my window enjoying it. Now as I sit at my desk my kitchen window and 12 foot window are both open so I can smell the rain (and my apartment can air out).
I have a lot of work to do today and I have to go to Best Buy to get one of those wrist rests because I've been getting serious sharp pains in my wrists and right elbow. I called Mom and Dad and mentioned it and they insisted I get one right away because it can lead to my wrists being too crippled to type!! Of course, that was Thursday night so I didn't do it then, but I really have to do it today.
Okay I think the weather is clearing up some, time to go find a best buy!
Monday, October 18, 2010
Moapa, Nevada
I spent this weekend - Friday morning through Sunday afternoon on a geology field trip to Moapa, Nevada to look at rock formations in the desert. I'll write a more scientific post tomorrow complete with pictures.
Got up really early Friday morning, finished packing, and walked across campus to the designated meeting spot. On the way there I got a lot of stares, and one guy stared at me so relentlessly for so long I finally turned to him and said, "You know, if you stare hard enough, I might do a trick!"
I know that was rude, but really, I was carrying a sleeping bag, a tent and had a backpack on. How much imagination does it require to figure out I was going camping?!
When I got to the parking lot a bunch of people were already there, but it was still 9:30 before everyone got there and we set off. My car consisted of Chris (a student driver), Mike (quintessential California surfer boy), Richie (serious music aficionado), Priscilla (really funny and incredibly smart), and myself. The rest of the space was taken up with coolers and luggage.
On the drive out to our first stop - Rainbow Basin - the boys had fun scaring Priscilla and myself by detailing all the issues with the car. On a trip last year the rear tire exploded while going 70 mph on the highway and destroyed the back end (there are still dents on the back bumper from that), the brakes were gummy, the steering wheel jiggles and goodness knows what else. Well, I don't think Priscilla was really scared but I was getting jittery before they got bored and put on some music. I had to listen to a lot of hippie-boy-music. Not that Bowie is bad by any means, but it's not my style. The Thelonius Monk was good though.
When we got to Rainbow Basin we had lunch first and then walked around looking at the formations and trying to deduce how it formed. We decided it had been a lake once, and there was nearby volcanic activity dumping layers of ash over everything.
There were some really cool green rocks from when the water was anoxic, but I didn't collect anything.
Then we drove on to Las Vegas. It wasn't quite what I expected, despite having watched CSI: Las Vegas for years and years - it was very dirty and gross and not as impressive as the tv made it out to be. Our car was last in line and we got lost - the others turned a corner too fast for us to follow and we lost them - so we had to call Connie (another driver) a million times before we found where to park and then we had to walk forever to find the buffet we meant to go to. Then that turned out to be $28 a head so it was "too expensive" and we went to Planet Hollywood instead, which cost just as much (I spent $31) and I got food poisoning and spent the end of my night throwing up before going to bed.
Before that happened though, we left and I found Las Vegas is transformed at night and is MUCH more impressive.
After dinner we went to a grocery store to get supplies, and spent a long time running around getting what we needed. Then we filled up the vans and drove off to our campground.
We got there after dark and I was in a bad mood (got an awful headache) and had to put up my tent in the dark and it was a kind of tent I wasn't used to so I had to get Chris to help me. Finally I got it set up, put my stuff away, and cracked open a beer to ease my headache. I got through my second beer with no real easement of the headache when the nausea hit and I threw up in the grass since I couldn't get to the bathroom in time for the first wave, but I managed to get to the sink for the second wave. I felt terrible - and angry! I'd spent $31 on a nice meal and gotten a CHICKEN SALAD whereas Priscilla got a (raw) tuna salad and SHE wasn't sick - and Richie got seared tuna tacos and HE wasn't sick either! I'm officially boycotting Planet Hollywood.
After getting sick I decided to call it a night, brushed my teeth and went to bed.
Saturday we got up early, I felt much better, ate some breakfast and we headed out to the valley we were checking out. That part of the trip really sucked - we had to hike like four miles at the outset in the hot sun and then we stayed there til 4 pm when if we had just gone from spot to spot in a timely fashion with any sort of regularity we would've been done by noon. It was searing hot, we were all miserable, and there was some interesting stuff but a great deal of it was incredibly boring. I did get some nice pictures and samples though.
We finally got back to camp around 4:30 and we all changed into swimsuits and jumped in the river - I brought a frisbee and everyone was having fun tossing it around. Then some boys got an inflatable mattress and started sailing down the river on it. Mike got ahold of it and surfed down some rapids, and did a great job until he decided to dive off into water that looked deep but was really very shallow - he slammed facefirst into a rock and cut up his face and nose. I lent my first aid kit and Connie lent hers and between the two one of the boys managed to patch up Mike's face quite nicely, although I think a stitch or two would've been beneficial. Poor Mike had a sore head and blood running postnasally down his sinuses for the rest of the trip. I didn't see him today but a girlfriend of mine did and she says the swelling is going down nicely.
After Mike got hurt everyone got out of the river and changed and grabbed some snacks and chatted till dinner (hotdogs) and then we split off into groups and hung out all night. I tried going swimming again in the river late at night but it was way too cold (even though it was a hot spring) and gave up and went to bed.
Sunday we struck camp and went to check out one last spot before heading on home. The last spot was pretty cool, I found some awesome samples, so I'll write about them later when I have pictures to help explain.
Driving home wasn't as fun as driving out had been - I was tired and feeling coughy and uncomfortable and Richie and Priscilla had the window seats so there was nothing I could curl up against to sleep on. I did manage to sleep sitting up for awhile but it was very very very uncomfortable.
My favorite part was when we were nearly at the California border and we were approaching this mountain range and saw some beautiful cloud formations that were so thick it looked like the mountains were floating on clouds. I tried and tried to get a picture and it just didn't take until Mike suggested I try to get a picture through his polarized sunglasses, and holy moly IT WORKED!! I really want to get polarized sunglasses now, but I do have to consider expense...le sigh!
But I got my picture which was lovely.
We finally got back, unpacked the cars, I grabbed my stuff and schlepped across campus to my apartment and finally got back at 6 pm. I dropped my stuff and immediately threw my dirty smelly clothes in the hamper and showered for nearly half an hour. I used FOUR shampoos in my hair to try and get it clean. I'm going to shower again tonight...not sure how many shampoos I'll use, but it feels GOOD to have clean hair!!!
I had a quiet microwave dinner, then finally couldn't stay up past 9:30 pm...and woke up at 8:30 am today and I'm STILL tired. Camping is exhausting.
Today I had class in the morning, then I went to REI and returned my rented tent, then went to Sam's Club and Ralph's for groceries since I naturally couldn't go shopping last night. Then I had class tonight and I'm trying to decide what to do for dinner. I think an omelet, or maybe a baked potato.
I'll post pictures and things on my next entry!
Got up really early Friday morning, finished packing, and walked across campus to the designated meeting spot. On the way there I got a lot of stares, and one guy stared at me so relentlessly for so long I finally turned to him and said, "You know, if you stare hard enough, I might do a trick!"
I know that was rude, but really, I was carrying a sleeping bag, a tent and had a backpack on. How much imagination does it require to figure out I was going camping?!
When I got to the parking lot a bunch of people were already there, but it was still 9:30 before everyone got there and we set off. My car consisted of Chris (a student driver), Mike (quintessential California surfer boy), Richie (serious music aficionado), Priscilla (really funny and incredibly smart), and myself. The rest of the space was taken up with coolers and luggage.
On the drive out to our first stop - Rainbow Basin - the boys had fun scaring Priscilla and myself by detailing all the issues with the car. On a trip last year the rear tire exploded while going 70 mph on the highway and destroyed the back end (there are still dents on the back bumper from that), the brakes were gummy, the steering wheel jiggles and goodness knows what else. Well, I don't think Priscilla was really scared but I was getting jittery before they got bored and put on some music. I had to listen to a lot of hippie-boy-music. Not that Bowie is bad by any means, but it's not my style. The Thelonius Monk was good though.
When we got to Rainbow Basin we had lunch first and then walked around looking at the formations and trying to deduce how it formed. We decided it had been a lake once, and there was nearby volcanic activity dumping layers of ash over everything.
There were some really cool green rocks from when the water was anoxic, but I didn't collect anything.
Then we drove on to Las Vegas. It wasn't quite what I expected, despite having watched CSI: Las Vegas for years and years - it was very dirty and gross and not as impressive as the tv made it out to be. Our car was last in line and we got lost - the others turned a corner too fast for us to follow and we lost them - so we had to call Connie (another driver) a million times before we found where to park and then we had to walk forever to find the buffet we meant to go to. Then that turned out to be $28 a head so it was "too expensive" and we went to Planet Hollywood instead, which cost just as much (I spent $31) and I got food poisoning and spent the end of my night throwing up before going to bed.
Before that happened though, we left and I found Las Vegas is transformed at night and is MUCH more impressive.
After dinner we went to a grocery store to get supplies, and spent a long time running around getting what we needed. Then we filled up the vans and drove off to our campground.
We got there after dark and I was in a bad mood (got an awful headache) and had to put up my tent in the dark and it was a kind of tent I wasn't used to so I had to get Chris to help me. Finally I got it set up, put my stuff away, and cracked open a beer to ease my headache. I got through my second beer with no real easement of the headache when the nausea hit and I threw up in the grass since I couldn't get to the bathroom in time for the first wave, but I managed to get to the sink for the second wave. I felt terrible - and angry! I'd spent $31 on a nice meal and gotten a CHICKEN SALAD whereas Priscilla got a (raw) tuna salad and SHE wasn't sick - and Richie got seared tuna tacos and HE wasn't sick either! I'm officially boycotting Planet Hollywood.
After getting sick I decided to call it a night, brushed my teeth and went to bed.
Saturday we got up early, I felt much better, ate some breakfast and we headed out to the valley we were checking out. That part of the trip really sucked - we had to hike like four miles at the outset in the hot sun and then we stayed there til 4 pm when if we had just gone from spot to spot in a timely fashion with any sort of regularity we would've been done by noon. It was searing hot, we were all miserable, and there was some interesting stuff but a great deal of it was incredibly boring. I did get some nice pictures and samples though.
We finally got back to camp around 4:30 and we all changed into swimsuits and jumped in the river - I brought a frisbee and everyone was having fun tossing it around. Then some boys got an inflatable mattress and started sailing down the river on it. Mike got ahold of it and surfed down some rapids, and did a great job until he decided to dive off into water that looked deep but was really very shallow - he slammed facefirst into a rock and cut up his face and nose. I lent my first aid kit and Connie lent hers and between the two one of the boys managed to patch up Mike's face quite nicely, although I think a stitch or two would've been beneficial. Poor Mike had a sore head and blood running postnasally down his sinuses for the rest of the trip. I didn't see him today but a girlfriend of mine did and she says the swelling is going down nicely.
After Mike got hurt everyone got out of the river and changed and grabbed some snacks and chatted till dinner (hotdogs) and then we split off into groups and hung out all night. I tried going swimming again in the river late at night but it was way too cold (even though it was a hot spring) and gave up and went to bed.
Sunday we struck camp and went to check out one last spot before heading on home. The last spot was pretty cool, I found some awesome samples, so I'll write about them later when I have pictures to help explain.
Driving home wasn't as fun as driving out had been - I was tired and feeling coughy and uncomfortable and Richie and Priscilla had the window seats so there was nothing I could curl up against to sleep on. I did manage to sleep sitting up for awhile but it was very very very uncomfortable.
My favorite part was when we were nearly at the California border and we were approaching this mountain range and saw some beautiful cloud formations that were so thick it looked like the mountains were floating on clouds. I tried and tried to get a picture and it just didn't take until Mike suggested I try to get a picture through his polarized sunglasses, and holy moly IT WORKED!! I really want to get polarized sunglasses now, but I do have to consider expense...le sigh!
But I got my picture which was lovely.
We finally got back, unpacked the cars, I grabbed my stuff and schlepped across campus to my apartment and finally got back at 6 pm. I dropped my stuff and immediately threw my dirty smelly clothes in the hamper and showered for nearly half an hour. I used FOUR shampoos in my hair to try and get it clean. I'm going to shower again tonight...not sure how many shampoos I'll use, but it feels GOOD to have clean hair!!!
I had a quiet microwave dinner, then finally couldn't stay up past 9:30 pm...and woke up at 8:30 am today and I'm STILL tired. Camping is exhausting.
Today I had class in the morning, then I went to REI and returned my rented tent, then went to Sam's Club and Ralph's for groceries since I naturally couldn't go shopping last night. Then I had class tonight and I'm trying to decide what to do for dinner. I think an omelet, or maybe a baked potato.
I'll post pictures and things on my next entry!
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Thursday again!
How did it get to be Thursday already? Where on earth did all the time in the world go?
I have been very good today - I got up at 6:45, got to class nice and early, went to CVS after class to get a knee brace, ate lunch, went to REI to pick up my tent, went to Marshall's and got a drawstring backpack for $5 (...and a copy of Sex and the City The Movie for $5...) and now I'm at home and just have some NAGPRA stuff to work on. Woo!
Well...until it's 7 pm and I go to Trader Joe's to pick up tomorrow's lunch and then come home and pack to Project Runway before going to bed early so that getting up early tomorrow won't suck so much.
Class today was SO much fun. We spent the entire three hours doing a lab - very simple, look at rocks and figure out what their name is in the Durham classification system and the Folk classification system, and some of them had an additional question too.
But we all talked and laughed the whole time, and helped each other out, and the names themselves are soo weird - ever seen a biopeloomictite? I have!
I'm actually starting to get excited about the camping trip. We're having dinner in Las Vegas tomorrow night (I'm praying we go somewhere cheap), checking out a bunch of geological hotspots on the way to Nevada and back (I wonder if we're going to check out Lake Mead??) and then we have the main trip with like a hundred people AND we get a BBQ on Saturday night! Very cool.
Okay enough dilly-dallying, I gotta get to work.
I have been very good today - I got up at 6:45, got to class nice and early, went to CVS after class to get a knee brace, ate lunch, went to REI to pick up my tent, went to Marshall's and got a drawstring backpack for $5 (...and a copy of Sex and the City The Movie for $5...) and now I'm at home and just have some NAGPRA stuff to work on. Woo!
Well...until it's 7 pm and I go to Trader Joe's to pick up tomorrow's lunch and then come home and pack to Project Runway before going to bed early so that getting up early tomorrow won't suck so much.
Class today was SO much fun. We spent the entire three hours doing a lab - very simple, look at rocks and figure out what their name is in the Durham classification system and the Folk classification system, and some of them had an additional question too.
But we all talked and laughed the whole time, and helped each other out, and the names themselves are soo weird - ever seen a biopeloomictite? I have!
I'm actually starting to get excited about the camping trip. We're having dinner in Las Vegas tomorrow night (I'm praying we go somewhere cheap), checking out a bunch of geological hotspots on the way to Nevada and back (I wonder if we're going to check out Lake Mead??) and then we have the main trip with like a hundred people AND we get a BBQ on Saturday night! Very cool.
Okay enough dilly-dallying, I gotta get to work.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Roundtable
My theory class gets more and more banal as the weeks go on. I want to write a 5 page paper this week to get it out of the way...we'll see if that actually happens, because I have a huge load of NAGPRA stuff to do by Thursday night.
Oh and on Thursday I need to pick up my tent from REI, get a lunch for the road from Trader Joe's, have my backpack entirely packed for the weekend, have my paper finished...sigh.
I got a lot of work done today though, but I'm still really tired. And I have early class tomorrow, ugh. And I think I need to do laundry. And I'm hungry after I just ate...really?!
I think it's time for sugar-free strawberry jello.
Oh and on Thursday I need to pick up my tent from REI, get a lunch for the road from Trader Joe's, have my backpack entirely packed for the weekend, have my paper finished...sigh.
I got a lot of work done today though, but I'm still really tired. And I have early class tomorrow, ugh. And I think I need to do laundry. And I'm hungry after I just ate...really?!
I think it's time for sugar-free strawberry jello.
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Love it!
Spent tonight doing a photoshoot to test out my new Neutrogena anti-acne foundation. This picture is totally one of my favorites...love my hat :)
Yay!
Yay!
Friday, October 8, 2010
Sore fingers
Test on Thursday went much better than I feared. I had a little bit of trouble with the matching and the long-answer, but the short-answers I knew well, so I'm hoping for a high B - low A...and I'm going to revamp how I study. Draw, draw, and draw some more!! (Lots and lots of diagrams in geology...who knew?!)
After my test I went to the Anthro office and picked up my very first paycheck! I only worked 2 weeks this month so my check was for $670, and I was super psyched. It's so lovely to get paid! Then I had to run down to the Foundation building to get the paper for my last key, and then to the key issue office to get the actual key. They nearly sent me back for another signature (again!) but the lady in charge decided that since the University Research Office was "such a mess" they'd just accept the guy who signed it. I don't know, the URO looks pretty clean and organized to me!
Then I headed home, had some lunch, and worked for awhile on my NAGPRA stuff. The rest of the day was spent eating and watching tv...and then I read Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea. I might read Anne of the Island tonight, if I don't decide to write - I really need to bust my writers' block and finish my manuscripts. Stupid writers' block :(
Today I slept in a little, showered, then went to campus to work on the NAGPRA stuff some more - I'd finished the file folder I had here, so I went to my lab and worked through the notebooks there. Then I tried to get into the file cabinet where the site records are, and guess what? The top drawer opens...the bottom drawer opens...the middle drawer, where the site records are, will NOT open. It's one of those dreadful cabinets that only lets one drawer be open at a time, and I think the middle shelf is jammed under the top shelf - you can see the top one pressing down onto the middle one when it's shut, and it's an awful pain to open itself.
I txtd a few people, asking for advice, which came back as an almost-unanimous "Kick it", which wasn't much help as I was wearing sandals.
I'm going to email my boss and ask if there's some sort of knack to it, and if not, I'm suggesting dynamite.
But my fingers are so sore! I kept trying to pry the damn thing open, first from the top and then from the bottom, and not only are the tips of my fingers STILL red half an hour later, you can still see the red lines right next to where the tip of the fingernail separates from your finger. So, I definitely tried hard! Maybe I should go out and get a crowbar.
The rest of my day today: I need to get camping supplies at REI for my fieldtrip next weekend, I must deposit my check, clean my apartment (how does it keep getting so messy?!), study, get shampoo, write a paper (well, at least start it), and cook myself a really nice dinner. It is Friday after all!
I think I'm going to make egg-fried rice because I haven't had it for a couple weeks. Or maybe I'll make spicy shrimp, because I have two pounds of shrimp in my freezer (that's totally four meals right there). Or, I might make latkes, because I have had the most insane cravings for like a month now and I just never make them because I'm so tired of accidentally grating my fingers instead of the potatoes. Then again, considering my hands, maybe not today.
Happy Friday!
After my test I went to the Anthro office and picked up my very first paycheck! I only worked 2 weeks this month so my check was for $670, and I was super psyched. It's so lovely to get paid! Then I had to run down to the Foundation building to get the paper for my last key, and then to the key issue office to get the actual key. They nearly sent me back for another signature (again!) but the lady in charge decided that since the University Research Office was "such a mess" they'd just accept the guy who signed it. I don't know, the URO looks pretty clean and organized to me!
Then I headed home, had some lunch, and worked for awhile on my NAGPRA stuff. The rest of the day was spent eating and watching tv...and then I read Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea. I might read Anne of the Island tonight, if I don't decide to write - I really need to bust my writers' block and finish my manuscripts. Stupid writers' block :(
Today I slept in a little, showered, then went to campus to work on the NAGPRA stuff some more - I'd finished the file folder I had here, so I went to my lab and worked through the notebooks there. Then I tried to get into the file cabinet where the site records are, and guess what? The top drawer opens...the bottom drawer opens...the middle drawer, where the site records are, will NOT open. It's one of those dreadful cabinets that only lets one drawer be open at a time, and I think the middle shelf is jammed under the top shelf - you can see the top one pressing down onto the middle one when it's shut, and it's an awful pain to open itself.
I txtd a few people, asking for advice, which came back as an almost-unanimous "Kick it", which wasn't much help as I was wearing sandals.
I'm going to email my boss and ask if there's some sort of knack to it, and if not, I'm suggesting dynamite.
But my fingers are so sore! I kept trying to pry the damn thing open, first from the top and then from the bottom, and not only are the tips of my fingers STILL red half an hour later, you can still see the red lines right next to where the tip of the fingernail separates from your finger. So, I definitely tried hard! Maybe I should go out and get a crowbar.
The rest of my day today: I need to get camping supplies at REI for my fieldtrip next weekend, I must deposit my check, clean my apartment (how does it keep getting so messy?!), study, get shampoo, write a paper (well, at least start it), and cook myself a really nice dinner. It is Friday after all!
I think I'm going to make egg-fried rice because I haven't had it for a couple weeks. Or maybe I'll make spicy shrimp, because I have two pounds of shrimp in my freezer (that's totally four meals right there). Or, I might make latkes, because I have had the most insane cravings for like a month now and I just never make them because I'm so tired of accidentally grating my fingers instead of the potatoes. Then again, considering my hands, maybe not today.
Happy Friday!
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Singing in the rain
Last night, I was curled up in bed, thinking of fluffy pillows and cuddly kittens in an attempt to lull myself to sleep when I heard something. At first I was sure I was dreaming, but I jumped up and ran to the windows and pulled aside the blinds, and sure enough IT WAS RAINING!!
I opened my door and watched the rain make splashes in the pool and listened to the now-rare sound of raindrops on the roof. It was too cold - about 58 degrees - to stay out there long, so I went back to bed and cuddled up again, but I was so excited for the rain I simply had to jump up and open my kitchen window so that I could hear the raindrops better. My roof must be very thick because I couldn't hear the rain on it, which is a definite change from Florida.
I woke up this morning and guess what? It was still raining! I danced a little dance and then went to shower...sadly when I got out the rain had stopped, but I got to see the rain for a little while and it made me happy.
I only have one class today, but I also have to do a lot of work - had a meeting with my boss yesterday and I'm clear on how to proceed with my work now, it's just a lot of work! And I have a test tomorrow which I'm very nervous about. I think I'm going to go through my notes, make a study sheet of definitions, make some drawings, and then reread everything.
And then I'm going to take an hour off at 9 pm to watch the season premiere of Mythbusters. Isn't science wonderful??
I opened my door and watched the rain make splashes in the pool and listened to the now-rare sound of raindrops on the roof. It was too cold - about 58 degrees - to stay out there long, so I went back to bed and cuddled up again, but I was so excited for the rain I simply had to jump up and open my kitchen window so that I could hear the raindrops better. My roof must be very thick because I couldn't hear the rain on it, which is a definite change from Florida.
I woke up this morning and guess what? It was still raining! I danced a little dance and then went to shower...sadly when I got out the rain had stopped, but I got to see the rain for a little while and it made me happy.
I only have one class today, but I also have to do a lot of work - had a meeting with my boss yesterday and I'm clear on how to proceed with my work now, it's just a lot of work! And I have a test tomorrow which I'm very nervous about. I think I'm going to go through my notes, make a study sheet of definitions, make some drawings, and then reread everything.
And then I'm going to take an hour off at 9 pm to watch the season premiere of Mythbusters. Isn't science wonderful??
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