The Play's the Thing

In an effort to broaden my horizons, last August I bought season tickets to Great Performances. Basically, about once a month there is some performance, usually a concert of some sort. On Sunday it was a play by Neil Coward called Private Lives. The play was put on by L.A. Theatre Works, a company that broadcasts plays on the radio. Apparently, you can go and see them broadcast the plays as a live audience. That's sort of what we saw. Each character had on a costume and there was a sort of backdrop, but they all read from their scripts, and a sound effects woman behind them would supply noises when characters would strike a match, hit someone or clink cocktail glasses.

It was really interesting. Sort of a step between radio and theatre, if that's possible. It was also hilarious, the actors did a great job. Apparently they broadcast these plays on public radio, but I've never heard of it. I don't know if they are only broadcast to the L.A. area, or if some go national, I'll have to check it out. It would be fun to sit by the radio and hear a play. Actually, it would be really fun to hear a spooky story on a radio at night.....Maybe I can find something on CD or something...

On a completely random note, I heard an interesting tidbit on the radio the other day. Apparently, it is now illegal to date your health care provider in the state of Washington. Health care provider covers everyone from the doctor who performs your surgery to your dental higenist. The announcer on the radio said "Apparently they've been having some problems with that." I ask you, what kind of problems do you have where the state votes for it to be illegal to date your health care provider? Anyone? I'm stumped...

One of Those Days....

Sigh. Only 11:00 A.M., and my day's already looking bad. I slept in today, so I had to skip breakfast to get to school in time for my 9:00 A.M. Stats class. The high today is around 18 degrees, and its windy, so it was a long, cold walk. After class, I walk across half of campus to return a movie to the library and check out a book. On my way back to the office, I see Dunkin Donuts and think to myself, "Mmmmm, a hot chocolate would feel good right now." After dutifully standing in line, I grab my hot tasty beverage and start the cold walk back to my office. I don't drink the hot chocolate, b/c I'm afraid it'll be too hot and I'll burn my tongue, or I'll spill it on myself or trip, or any other number of stupid things. Turns out I didn't have to worry. I can be stupid without even trying to coordinate drinking and walking. As I'm about halfway back to my office, I misstep off a curb, fall, and land on my knees, dropping my precious hot chocolate. The right knee of my jeans has a huge rip now (not surprising since I've had these jeans since high school and the knees are a little worn), and I pick up my hot chocolate to discover that the cement sidewalk has punctured a large hole in the bottom of the cup. So I throw my hot chocolate away without even getting to drink any of it, hobble to my office and get a first aid kit, because now that I"m in a heated building, I can feel blood trickling down my right leg. Sure enough, I've got one big cut and a few small ones on my knees, plus some pretty spectacular bruises. Good thing I work in a bio building where there are first aid kits in every classroom and lab. Still, my big cut is still bleeding, and I"m not sure if I need a couple stitches, or if it's just a shallow cut that's bleeding a lot because knees are vulnerable, and now that my knees have feeling again, my body can register the cut and bleed more. Either way, today just seems like one of those days.....

Happy Birthday!

Happy 24th Birthday Spencer!! Woo Hoo! Since it's your first birthday as a husband, I think you need to celebrate extra hard. Birthday bond, Woot!

On another celebratory note, congratulations to Kristi Tanner and Nick, who are getting married June 2. So many weddings!

SnowFest 2007!!!!

I took a quick break from work this afternoon to call my Aunt Barbara and thank her for the bakery cookies she sent me last week for my birthday (mmm.....English tea cookies). She asked me if I was going to make it up to Cooperstown this semester. I said, "Well, I"m not sure. Maybe in Feb. during a three day weekend (Presidents Day), or for part of Spring Break. Depends on my work load." After chatting for a bit I hang up, come back into the office, and decide to see what's going on in Cooperstown around those times. Just to see if anything interesting is going on. And what do I discover? SnowFest 2007! This is the winter festival held every year in Cooperstown, that I never get to go to! There's ice skating, cross country skiing, sledding, horse-drawn rides, snow sculpting and the polar bear jump (where crazy people jump into the lake to raise money for sick kids)! Now I have to go!!! Maggie, don't you wish you could come with me?

Here's a link to the info on SnowFest 2007:
http://cooperstownchamber.org/SnowFest2007Calendar.htm

Start of the Semester

It was very very cold this weekend. Like 24 degrees with gusting winds cold. So I spent a good amount of time in the apartment huddled under a blanket, watching movies and reading. Little Miss Sunshine is a funny, quirky movie with its emotional parts as well. I also saw A Star is Born, with Judy Garland. I was amazed, it's kinda long but really good. I recommend it to anybody who likes old movies or musicals. On another note, I just started reading "The Physics of Buffyverse" last night, which Mike gave me for Christmas. Here's a fun tidbit from the book: "Stakes were often secured above corpses upon burial, so the creature would impale itself if it tried to escape." That was probably one reason why Poe wanted them to rig a bell to his grave.....

Classes started today, and we had a light dusting of snow to welcome in the new school year. I'm finishing up my classes this semester, and hope to defend and finish in the fall. Yikes. That's scary, because even though I'm ready to be done and get out of here, I'm nervous about the whole writing a huge thesis and defending it part. Plus, I have very little data to work with. Which also really sucks. I'm hoping I can beg my way onto the June cruise, although Rui has assured me that I can catch lots of Loligo squid in April, do experiments on those and just compare the two. Still, I have so little Dosidicus data that I'm not even sure I could legitimately compare it. But I really shouldn't be worrying so much about that right now. My committee hasn't even read my proposal yet! I should worry about that instead....

Like I said, I finish up classes this semester, and here's my schedule so far:
MWF 9:00 - 9:50 Stats 409 (I'm allowed to take a couple undergrad courses if they're
needed, and I've never had a stats class so...)
MW 1:00 - 1:50 Comparative Physiology (It seems right that I should take a physiology course
since my research focuses on it, yet I've never had a class in it...)
TH 12:00 - 12:50 Seminar in Neurobiology (I needed 1 more hour, and Brad recommended it)

I still don't know when I"m going to teach, but BIO 101 labs are only being taught on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, so sometime on those days I'll teach three labs. I wasn't trying to arrange my schedule any particular sort of way, but Tuesdays and Thursdays seem kind of open (at least, until I know when I"m teaching), which is good. I think I'm going to try to leave Tuesdays open, or at least Tuesday and Thursday mornings, to read more papers for my research.

Well, I just heard that our teaching evaluations from last semester are in, so I'm gonna go check mine out.

Mail! Glorious mail!

Everybody knows how precious real mail is. You know, not the coupons, bills, or meaningless crap that actually fills your mailbox, but stuff from people you actually know. Well yesterday was one of those great days, where I got tons of mail. I got my first 2 Netflix movies (Little Miss Sunshine and United 93), pictures from Maggie and Spencer's wedding, and a small box of English tea cookies from the bakery in Cooperstown (a late birthday present from my aunt). It was awesome! Plus, my mom got me a subscription to EW, so I'll be getting that today or tomorrow. Yay mail! Which reminds me, I never sent out Christmas cards this year. Here's what happened: I bought Christmas cards in Rhode Island, than everything got so crazy busy, and it wasn't til I was on the plane home that I realized that not only had I not sent any cards, but that I had even forgotten to pack them. Oh well, I thought, I didn't get any cards, maybe everyone else was too busy too. Then I got home to find 3 Christmas cards waiting for me. Oops.

Hello All

Wow, I see that I haven't posted anything in about 6 weeks. This is mostly because the last couple weeks of school were nonstop crazy busy, and then once I got home, I was having too much fun to bother with the computer. I wouldn't even check my email for days at a time, let alone actually post something on my blog. So how do I wrap up 6 weeks of activities and brilliant thoughts? It's a tough one.

Last semester was stressful but doable. I did a lot of work, which gave me a more positive attitude. However, much of that work had to be repeated due to equipment errors, time scheduling conflicts, etc., and most of the work did not actually yield useable data. So that was a downer. I also had some health issues in the fall. I had to go to physical therapy for my back/leg for a couple of months, I spilled acid on my arm (I don't recommend that), smacking myself in the face with a huge wrench, and had to get an infected cyst lanced over Christmas break. I'm not sure why all this stuff has happened at once. Maybe my emotional unhappiness is affecting my body. Or maybe my subconscious is trying to kill me. Does that make it murder or suicide?

Christmas break was an absolute blast, I really didn't want to come back. I spent the first couple days recovering and doing another draft of my proposal, but then I got to spend lots of time with the family and Whitney (Yay Supernatural and Dexter!). The first week was basicallyl a lot of lying around, watching TV and movies and loving on cats (although I fear I've developed an allergy to them, :( ). I got to spend quality time with Whitney, which was awesome since I haven't seen her in a year. Then, since she left me for New Years (*sob*) to go see other friends in VA and Baltimore, I went to Birmingham and visited Ames for New Years. I got to spend some time with J.D., and I like him more now that I've seen him in his element. Not that I disliked him before, I just didn't know him well at all, having only met him 2 or 3 times.

After New Years was Maggie and Spencer's wedding, which was amazing. It was very busy. I'd never been in a wedding before, so I didn't realized there would be like 2 parties a day and different dress codes, but it was so much fun. Plus I got to see almost all of my close friends from SHC! I thought it was especially cool that Dan and Kate came down from Alaska. I need to keep up with them more. I also especially loved seeing Mike, Spencer and Caitlin again. I spent the most time with them and Mags at SHC, so they were my closest friends. Of course it was great to see Maggie too, the beautiful bride. I mean, she looked spectacular the whole weekend, particularly in her wedding dress with red lipstick and white flowers in her dark hair. She has pics on facebook if anyone is interested. Going out the last night was fun, but I kinda wish we had all just bought snacks and alcohol and camped out in one of the hotel rooms to talk for hours. Makes me nostalgic for all our game nights that inevitably ended in long discussions til the wee hours of the morning.

I also turned 24 since my last update. I feel neither older nor wiser, but maybe that'll kick in later? Christmas/birthday gifts rocked, notably my Veronica Mars Season 1 and The Stranger DVDs. Also, Dave got me 3 months of Netflix for free, so if anyone knows of any movies that I must see, let me know. I also got lots of clothes. So much, in fact, that I had to have 2 checked bags and 2 carry ons on my way back to RI. Oh! And I got The Physics of Buffyverse and a Dashiell Hammett novel from Mike. :) I also got a murder mystery game, and I even brought it to the wedding, but I couldn't bring myself to play without Mags and Spencer involved, and they were busy 24/7. Perhaps we can get together in Wisconsin at some point and I can bring it?

Now I'm back in RI and getting some work done. Classes start next week, and I'm doing random organizaton and reading some papers at the moment. I hope all my friends are doing well this year, and I plan to keep in better touch. Go facebook!