First, some acknowledgements:
I stole the idea for my new "library thing" widget on the side from LeftyGrrrl. I coveted hers for weeks and finally sat down and got my own this morning.
Thanks to Jackie for this fun ABC meme!
Accent: Minnesoooootan
Booze: Wine (red or white), Cape Cods, Margharitas
Chore I Hate: dusting (allergies)
Dog or Cat: Certified Crazy Cat Lady
Essential Electronics: laptop, MP3/radio
Favorite Cologne: Chanel No. 5
Gold or Silver: gold
Hometown: Minneapolis, MN
Insomnia: never
Job Title: Graduate Research Assistant
Kids: someday...
Living arrangements: living in sin with my boyfriend
Most Admirable Trait: sensitivity
Number of sexual partners: that's confidential information
Overnight hospital stays: only as a baby
Phobias: driving on the freeway
Quote: "The pursuit of truth is more precious than its possession."-A. Einstein
Religion: Agnostic
Siblings: one step sister
Time I wake up: 6:30 am weekdays, 10ish on weekends
Unusual talent or skill: remembering where everyone else put things they've lost.
Vegetable I love: broccoli
Worst habit: chewing on my hair while I'm concentrating
X-rays: teeth, chest
Yummy foods I make: spaghetti pomodoro, goulash, beef stroganoff
Zodiac sign: cancer
Saturday, April 29, 2006
Friday, April 28, 2006
Sheikra
On Wednesday, a couple of us grad students along with Dr. B, the undergraduate advisor, went to Busch Gardens as part of Physics Day, 2006.
The three of us were we same three that judged the science fair a couple months ago. Physicist #3 was James, who since then has given me permission to use his real name on my blog because as he puts it, "I don't give a crap. " Physicist #2 is yours truly, and physicist #1 recently got his Ph.D. so I will refer to him as Dr. Badass because he is also huge and black and chiseled.
The fact that Dr. Badass is black is important to this story because for two outreach activities it has been us three. I remarked while waiting for Dr. B, "Do you think it's a coincidence that he always gets a white guy, a black guy and a woman to do this stuff?" Dr. Badass replied, "Not at all. Just call me token."
The four of us (the ultra diverse grad students and Dr. B) put on two physics shows at Busch Gardens demonstrating a variety of physics concepts which involved flinging eggs, beach balls and leaky bags of water. We let the kids glide on a hovercraft and propel themselves on a wagon via a fire extinguisher. They beat Dr. Badass at tug-o-war (he was on a frictionless surface so he couldn't "tug") and they beat him a throwing balls at a target (they threw tennis balls, he had to throw a beach ball). It was a good time had by all except James and me who ended up with egg on our faces. Literally. The kids loved Dr. Badass and several asked for his autograph after the show. When we wandered around Busch Gardens, I saw several of the kids point to him, whispering, "Hey! It's that guy!"
We also got a yummy free lunch and free admission to the park after the shows.
James bailed before lunch to meet up with a friend of his that is now a high school teacher who was there with his students. Dr. Badass and me ate lunch with the coordinator and then decided to ride Sheikra, the newest and most impressive roller coaster in Florida. Here are the stats:
Maximum Height: 200 ft.
Angle of 200 ft drop: 90°
Maximum Speed: 70 mph
Total Length of track: 3,188 ft.
Time spent in line: 40 min.
Total time on ride: 3 min
I had not rode a roller coaster in a few years and I felt my age getting off the thing. I was nauseous and my head was spinning. Dr. Badass said, "Boy, I'm getting too old for this." I agreed. Rather than running to get back in line, we got some water, sat down, and feared the day our kids made us ride on every roller coaster one right after the other.
The three of us were we same three that judged the science fair a couple months ago. Physicist #3 was James, who since then has given me permission to use his real name on my blog because as he puts it, "I don't give a crap. " Physicist #2 is yours truly, and physicist #1 recently got his Ph.D. so I will refer to him as Dr. Badass because he is also huge and black and chiseled.
The fact that Dr. Badass is black is important to this story because for two outreach activities it has been us three. I remarked while waiting for Dr. B, "Do you think it's a coincidence that he always gets a white guy, a black guy and a woman to do this stuff?" Dr. Badass replied, "Not at all. Just call me token."
The four of us (the ultra diverse grad students and Dr. B) put on two physics shows at Busch Gardens demonstrating a variety of physics concepts which involved flinging eggs, beach balls and leaky bags of water. We let the kids glide on a hovercraft and propel themselves on a wagon via a fire extinguisher. They beat Dr. Badass at tug-o-war (he was on a frictionless surface so he couldn't "tug") and they beat him a throwing balls at a target (they threw tennis balls, he had to throw a beach ball). It was a good time had by all except James and me who ended up with egg on our faces. Literally. The kids loved Dr. Badass and several asked for his autograph after the show. When we wandered around Busch Gardens, I saw several of the kids point to him, whispering, "Hey! It's that guy!"
We also got a yummy free lunch and free admission to the park after the shows.
James bailed before lunch to meet up with a friend of his that is now a high school teacher who was there with his students. Dr. Badass and me ate lunch with the coordinator and then decided to ride Sheikra, the newest and most impressive roller coaster in Florida. Here are the stats:
Maximum Height: 200 ft.
Angle of 200 ft drop: 90°
Maximum Speed: 70 mph
Total Length of track: 3,188 ft.
Time spent in line: 40 min.
Total time on ride: 3 min
I had not rode a roller coaster in a few years and I felt my age getting off the thing. I was nauseous and my head was spinning. Dr. Badass said, "Boy, I'm getting too old for this." I agreed. Rather than running to get back in line, we got some water, sat down, and feared the day our kids made us ride on every roller coaster one right after the other.
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Sunday, April 23, 2006
A Lot can Change in a Year
One year ago today Randy was diagnosed with Leukemia. And everything changed.
About a week before he had to go to the hospital, he took me to lunch at Taco Bell. I distinctly remember him complaining that his legs and hips hurt. I thought it was unusual that he was griping, it was quite out of character. But I dismissed it nonetheless, reassuring him that his sporatic workouts and helping runnergirl move into her new house was hard on his muscles. Soon after I got the call from the hospital.
One of the things we had to get used to after the diagnosis was that Randy couldn't go out as much. One afternoon a couple of the boys and I collected stuff from our places that Randy could do while quarantined to his apartment. I brought him a Mickey Mouse mosaic puzzle I had bought during my internship in Oak Ridge. Randy liked to call and chat with me while I was in Oak Ridge and when I bought that puzzle I would work on it while talking to him on my cell phone. He would chuckle while I would periodically curse at that damned thing, sounding like a Tourettes patient. When he saw the puzzle in the bag, he laughed at the irony. I had bought it while confined to my apartment, now I was passing it along. The other item I brought him was a deck of canasta cards I had impulsively bought at Target a couple years earlier. It was one of those things I thought would be fun for Dean and me to learn to do. Dean thought otherwise. Anyway, I told Randy to study and learn the game and then teach me how to play. He ended up learning the game with his sister Anna, and they played often while he was stuck in the apartment and in the hospital.
There have been a few landmarks since Randy's passing that have been dificult: his 28th birthday, the one and two month milestones, walking in his memory in Miles for Moffitt. But this one is very tough. I expected my grief to improve linearly over time. I didn't anticipate such pain after feeling so good for awhile. Why is this so hard? Mostly because we were all so ignorant a year ago. We didn't think this might be our last year with Randy.
The weekend after his death, we all met at his apartment to help go through his things. It was there that his mom gave me his piano, one of the most beautiful gifts I've ever gotten. Shortly after this grand gesture, Anna approched me still timid from our not knowing each other very well. She asked to keep the canasta cards. It's funny how inanimate objects can take on such profound meaning.
Some where around these few days also marks four years since I met my friend Randy (read about it here). I also met runnergirl and Cheeshead. I was on a visit being recruited by the department. As I come back to my Minneapolis apartment to tell Dean about the people I met, I could have never imagined the impact they would all have on my life.
About a week before he had to go to the hospital, he took me to lunch at Taco Bell. I distinctly remember him complaining that his legs and hips hurt. I thought it was unusual that he was griping, it was quite out of character. But I dismissed it nonetheless, reassuring him that his sporatic workouts and helping runnergirl move into her new house was hard on his muscles. Soon after I got the call from the hospital.
One of the things we had to get used to after the diagnosis was that Randy couldn't go out as much. One afternoon a couple of the boys and I collected stuff from our places that Randy could do while quarantined to his apartment. I brought him a Mickey Mouse mosaic puzzle I had bought during my internship in Oak Ridge. Randy liked to call and chat with me while I was in Oak Ridge and when I bought that puzzle I would work on it while talking to him on my cell phone. He would chuckle while I would periodically curse at that damned thing, sounding like a Tourettes patient. When he saw the puzzle in the bag, he laughed at the irony. I had bought it while confined to my apartment, now I was passing it along. The other item I brought him was a deck of canasta cards I had impulsively bought at Target a couple years earlier. It was one of those things I thought would be fun for Dean and me to learn to do. Dean thought otherwise. Anyway, I told Randy to study and learn the game and then teach me how to play. He ended up learning the game with his sister Anna, and they played often while he was stuck in the apartment and in the hospital.
There have been a few landmarks since Randy's passing that have been dificult: his 28th birthday, the one and two month milestones, walking in his memory in Miles for Moffitt. But this one is very tough. I expected my grief to improve linearly over time. I didn't anticipate such pain after feeling so good for awhile. Why is this so hard? Mostly because we were all so ignorant a year ago. We didn't think this might be our last year with Randy.
The weekend after his death, we all met at his apartment to help go through his things. It was there that his mom gave me his piano, one of the most beautiful gifts I've ever gotten. Shortly after this grand gesture, Anna approched me still timid from our not knowing each other very well. She asked to keep the canasta cards. It's funny how inanimate objects can take on such profound meaning.
Some where around these few days also marks four years since I met my friend Randy (read about it here). I also met runnergirl and Cheeshead. I was on a visit being recruited by the department. As I come back to my Minneapolis apartment to tell Dean about the people I met, I could have never imagined the impact they would all have on my life.
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Nothing New
Maybe I shouldn't open a post with the fact that I really have nothing new to say. But it's true.
Sylvia was in town for the weekend and we had a wonderful time with her. It very laid back and her and Dean spent some much needed mother-son time. Easter was fabulous. We had a big mid-day meal at Carrabba's. Then Dean took a nap and Sylvia and I sat by the pool with Cokes and books relaxing and getting some sun. We moved to the shade after only a half hour but it was too late. I got burnt. Then we watched the Twins game. They didn't complete the sweep against the Evil Empire, but I'll take 2 of 3 any day.
Helium has been a beee-yotch this round. I had four types of samples to look at: (1) Some of my old samples I'm measuring with a different method to try to answer some questions raised to us by a referee from a prestigious journal. We submitted the paper about a six weeks ago and got the reviews back last week. Not being able to completely answer those questions shouldn't prevent us from getting the paper published, but it would put the last nail in the ref's metaphorical coffin. (2) The sample from the future Mr. Magnetbabe, my collaborator who I'm severely crushing on. (3) A sample with very little known about it. Positive results may lead to a high impact journal article. (4) More samples to round out a paper I am currently writing. I can finish writing the paper and get it submitted when I have results from these samples.
Results:
1. Inconclusive. I have no idea how to interpret the results.
2. Even worse. Cannot get reproducible results.
3. Negative results.
4. The samples haven't arrived yet. This measurement will have to wait til next helium cycle.
Argh.
I got my truffles last week which has made me a very happy girl. Due to a minor mistake on my dad's part (which I won't repeat here since I promised him I wouldn't) I've gotten to try two new flavors besides the 99% double. I tried rum and port flavors. Both delectable. Sadly, I couldn't handle the 99%. It kicked my ass.
By the way, happy 23rd birthday Joe Mauer, Li'l Joe, Joe-Joe, Baby Jesus, whatever!
Sylvia was in town for the weekend and we had a wonderful time with her. It very laid back and her and Dean spent some much needed mother-son time. Easter was fabulous. We had a big mid-day meal at Carrabba's. Then Dean took a nap and Sylvia and I sat by the pool with Cokes and books relaxing and getting some sun. We moved to the shade after only a half hour but it was too late. I got burnt. Then we watched the Twins game. They didn't complete the sweep against the Evil Empire, but I'll take 2 of 3 any day.
Helium has been a beee-yotch this round. I had four types of samples to look at: (1) Some of my old samples I'm measuring with a different method to try to answer some questions raised to us by a referee from a prestigious journal. We submitted the paper about a six weeks ago and got the reviews back last week. Not being able to completely answer those questions shouldn't prevent us from getting the paper published, but it would put the last nail in the ref's metaphorical coffin. (2) The sample from the future Mr. Magnetbabe, my collaborator who I'm severely crushing on. (3) A sample with very little known about it. Positive results may lead to a high impact journal article. (4) More samples to round out a paper I am currently writing. I can finish writing the paper and get it submitted when I have results from these samples.
Results:
1. Inconclusive. I have no idea how to interpret the results.
2. Even worse. Cannot get reproducible results.
3. Negative results.
4. The samples haven't arrived yet. This measurement will have to wait til next helium cycle.
Argh.
I got my truffles last week which has made me a very happy girl. Due to a minor mistake on my dad's part (which I won't repeat here since I promised him I wouldn't) I've gotten to try two new flavors besides the 99% double. I tried rum and port flavors. Both delectable. Sadly, I couldn't handle the 99%. It kicked my ass.
By the way, happy 23rd birthday Joe Mauer, Li'l Joe, Joe-Joe, Baby Jesus, whatever!
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