Holiday Travels

Somewhere between the relief and ecstasy of being done with finals and excitement of finally going back home, I have managed to completely stress myself out about the actual traveling. Not quite at finals-level anxiety but close. The knot in my chest, resembling an asthma attack, is omnipresent. The endless list of things to do before leaving keeps adding to itself in my head and I can hardly manage to sit still for more than a few minutes. It takes me forever to finally calm my brain down to the point that sleep is possible. In fact, the past couple nights, I haven't been able to fall asleep without the help of medication.

Simply Sleep is awesome, by the way.

The conclusion to the insanity of the past few days? There's simply not enough time over the holiday break for me to give everyone that I want to see a proper visit. There are so many people that I haven't seen in a long time, especially my Momma. The guilt that I feel for not being able to dedicate a significant amount of time into visiting each person that I want to see, in addition to the stress of not having a detailed schedule for the coming week, is overwhelming.

An interesting quirk I've discovered about myself is that I try to make up for not having a schedule by being as prepared for what I know is coming as possible. Like the flights tomorrow, for example. I started packing on Friday, checked us in online as soon as the opportunity was available, paid the baggage fee for our one checked bag, printed boarding passes and checked luggage receipt, printed airport parking confirmations, started packing snacks and lunch, cleaned house, got my oil changed, charged the Kindle, cleaned out my car... Yeah. I've been busy.

Welcome to adulthood and the two-week vacation.

Now, I will have an opportunity to see everyone at the wedding in May. (Meaning I won't have to wait a year to see my family. What?? What is this nonsense???) That does make me feel a teensy bit better.

The obvious solution is I need to move back to California. The question is: when? I guess I should start looking for potential post doc positions.

In other news, we've been discussing what should go into the garden of our eventual house. So far on the list we have:

• Avocado tree
• Clementine tree
• Tomato plant
• Cilantro
• Basil
• Mint
• Jalapeno 
• Pecan tree
• Apple tree
• Bell peppers
• Cucumber
• Garlic
• Onion
• Parsley

I have no idea if all of those things can be grown together in a single climate. Or how much land our dream garden requires. But it would be nice!! Any other suggestions to add to the list?

Done with Finals! FOREVER!

So fall semester is officially done. My requirements for my degree are (almost) done. The classes that will require finals? DONE. No more finals for me. Forever.

FOR-EV-ERRRRRR!!!!

What? Pinkie Pie says it best :)

Things that have changed in the last... 4 months? 

• I'm officially switching from a Master's to a PhD. :) 
• A result of: wanting a PhD eventually and finally figuring out what I want to do and being able to tailor my current project to that ideal. SCORE!

• I will be teaching again next semester. DQ's Marine Botany lab!
• Apparently I'm next in the rotation of DQ's grad students to teach the lab portion of her class. The nice thing is that I won't have to do all of the grading by myself!

• My wedding dress came in and I went for my fitting and supposedly the alterations are done. Woo!
• I was asked if I wanted to wait for the alterations to be done at a later date. I said no. The sooner things can get checked off of my list, the better!

• Lots of wedding details are coming together, thankfully. Trying to get as much done as possible.
• The dress... the tuxes... figuring out the favors... making my veil... the schedule... wedding party gifts, toasting flutes and cake serving set, and staying within budget! That was a very happy order.

• The guest list is by far the worst part of wedding planning.
• I don't think I've said a truer statement.

• Dissertation proposal still not written, but that's my assignment for myself next semester. Oh and taking quals. 
• :-/

I think things are falling into place very nicely! We're leaving for California for the holidays next week (SO. STOKED.) and I actually get to see my hun bun for an entire TWO WEEKS. That hasn't happened since this summer! 

Christmas gifts this year are rather small. While we don't have to pay for the wedding anymore (still feeling the blessings of an amazing family, bee-tee-dubs), we're still kinda in the not-able-to-afford-lavish-gifts income bracket. Sticking to small gifts for the immediate family and baked goodies for everyone else this year. Apparently my gingerbread cookies are a hit! The tin that I brought for my lab mates yesterday was hoovered by the end of the day. The only issue is figuring out how to get baked goodies to the family in California since we're flying instead of driving this year. 

And you know? I keep getting asked by family members what I want for Christmas this year. And while there are things that I wouldn't mind getting, I can honestly say that I'm good without gifts this year. All I want is to spend time with family that I haven't seen in a year, and my wedding is still happening. I'm good. No. I'm GREAT. 

Happy holidays, everyone :)

Roller Coaster Week

The past week has been an emotional roller coaster in the most literal way I can express. I have never experienced so many ups and downs in such a short amount of time, that, honestly I was tipsy from the emotional whiplash and needed to sit down.

Let's start with last Thursday, my birthday. Not a remarkable day as far as birthdays go. It was actually kind of very sucky. The birthday wishes from friends and family, in addition to a nice birthday dinner at the Kemah Boardwalk and a ferris wheel ride (eee!) helped stave off the suckiness until later in the evening.

I had been notified that I would have to take care of my fees for school this year, which isn't much compared to what I had to pay for undergrad. However, when you think that you have a scholarship for the term of your enrollment, and find out that you don't, it's kind of a slap in the face. George wasn't sure that he was going to have funding for this year either, and I could feel this sinking feeling in my gut that something's gotta give. How could I possibly justify to myself that I needed to pay for a wedding, when I've always been the person to put school first? How could I possibly pay for a wedding when we didn't (and still don't) know our funding situation for the year? I couldn't. And neither could George.

So at dinner, we decided that we would cancel our wedding in May so that we could reserve the money for paying for school if needed. As soon as the decision was made, I felt awful (and broke down in tears) but I also felt immensely relieved. Heartbroken emails were sent, canceling what we couldn't use for any contingency plans, and I started thinking about what to do instead.

Elope? I imagined being eviscerated by my mother in numerous ways that made any Fright Night movie look like Disneyland's Haunted Mansion by comparison. Not only that, I wanted her there, whatever we did. We both wanted our families present wherever and whenever we decided to get married.

The brainstorming turned to San Francisco City Hall as we had originally planned, only this time during winter break 2011. We're going to be in California anyways visiting for the holidays, our families would be off from work, and it seemed like the perfect solution. However, work schedules and city hall availability dates were not cooperating. I was screaming to myself and anyone who I was talking to that day

THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE SIMPLER, DAMMIT!!!


I was almost in tears (again) when I called my fabulous/gracious/generous aunt to ask for my cousins' winter break schedule. It appeared that nothing was going to work for getting married over winter break. And then she suggested the most mind blowing and generous idea I have ever heard in my life:

"What if your grandma and I took over paying for the rest of the wedding if you can get everything back for the May date?"


(If you couldn't tell, that was the point that I had to sit down.)

I couldn't fathom someone voluntarily taking care of everything. That's a lot of money! It felt like too much to accept. But according to my aunt and grandma, I was going to receive help anyway. I've always been the kind of person to try to take care of things on my own, and I don't like asking for help. It never really occurred to me to ask. Silly? Probably.

I've never been religious by any means, but in that moment, I felt so... BLESSED. I couldn't believe that we were going to get the wedding we wanted and planned for without having to break the bank. I still feel incredibly blessed with such generous and loving family. So unbelievably lucky.

The next 24 hours consisted of me frantically emailing and calling the vendors that we had canceled with, and miraculously everything was still available. No refunds dispersed, contracts still honorable. Like magic, the wedding-date-that-almost-was materialized, as if it hadn't gone anywhere.

A quote that I want to share comes from a conversation with my uncle, explaining the changes:

Me: Well, we were trying to pay for it ourselves...
Uncle: WHY would you do THAT??
Me: Because I'm silly, apparently.


So while my actual birthday was probably one of the worst of my life so far, this year will be great. I can feel it :)

Oh, and I also went on a research cruise for 8 days. The water was a gorgeous cerulean blue and we managed to convince the captain to let us have a "fire drill and man overboard exercise." AKA each of us scientists got to man the fire hose and jump off the back of the boat and swim around for about an hour.

And I almost got pinched by a crab.

Well, Hello Again.

Many apologies for the long hiatus on posting. I know you all have been DYING to know what I've been up to since my last post. A quick summary of happenings of the past few months:

I have...

*...moved to Houston.

*...traveled to San Francisco to visit future sister-in-law and get wedding details arranged (all successes!)

*...bought my wedding dress. (*squee!*)

*...started working as a graduate research assistant at the Galveston A&M campus. The new Ocean and Coastal Studies Building is SO PRETTY. I'll have to take pictures and post next time.

*...been on a research cruise out in the Gulf of Mexico (and will be doing so again next week!).

*...been reading for my thesis proposal (I was supposed to have it written by the end of summer, but there's SO MUCH to read).

*...put up drapes in the living room, dining room and bedroom. So homey and it makes being in the first two rooms a lot more bearable in the morning.

*...made my own hummus.

*...ordered wedding invitations, reply cards, thank you cards, save the dates (all with free envelopes included!) and place cards. I love vistaprint :)

*...taken a day trip to Rice Village.

*...hung out with future sister-in-law for a few days in Houston which included: seeing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 at midnight, a beach day in Galveston, tapas in Rice Village and general laziness.

*...taken part in crazy water month in the lab.

*...tried to go see the Houston Symphony Orchestra perform the Lord of the Rings soundtrack while the movie played on a big screen, but failed. So we improvised and watch the special extended edition at home really loudly instead.

*...dog-sat a vicious demon. No really. He was a vindictive little monster who is no longer welcome in my house.

And that brings us to the present. Right now I'm still reading for my proposal. Well, obviously not right this second, but that's what has been occupying most of my time. Rather, it's more me trying to read for my proposal and really just feeling burned out about it. It's impossible to read or write in a cubicle. It's impossible for me to want to get things done when working at home. So what now? Do I need to take a week-long vacation and come back to it? To take a vacation would require going somewhere and spending money that I don't have. I've been working from home for two days and being stuck inside is driving me insane. I suppose I'm at an impasse. I leave for a cruise on Monday, and will come back the following Tuesday, which leaves a week and a half until school starts. Do I really want to start the school year feeling burned out? Not really. I only have 2 real classes plus a seminar and research hours.

Maybe I will take a week off or something. Hopefully that will fix me.

Year One: Complete.

I finished classes, both for teaching and for taking, on May 9th at 11:30 pm. The take home final was tedious and annoying, but I finished. Ever since, I have been over the moon. No more teaching. I'm done with the bulk of my classes. I'm a year and a half (most likely) from finishing my Master's degree. It's strange to think that this time last year I was graduating from undergrad. It feels like so much longer ago. It's also strange to think that I'm still 22. For some reason I feel like I should be older. I feel older. Twenty-two sounds really young, and truthfully I'm one of the youngest grad students in the department. But I don't feel that way.

There were definitely ups and downs over the course of this semester. Most of the downs to do with assignments for which expectations were not made clear, uncertainties with what concepts were going to be asked of students on exams, and dealing with juggling teaching 3 classes and taking 3 classes. All in addition to the myriad of situations of undergrads-and-their-lack-of-common-sense.

The ups... this will take me a minute.

- Going out on a boat on Galveston Bay to collect samples and falling into the best sleep I had had in months at 8:30 that night until 6:30 the next morning.
- Teaching my students about recycling and really cool animals that I find awesome. And then having several students pipe in about options for recycling. And then seeing their eyes widen and their faces screw up in concentration as they contemplate how big a blue whale really is when I show them a baleen tooth.
- Talking about concepts related to my thesis in my Biogeochemistry of Estuaries class (taught by one of my committee members!) and debating about what's going on there.
- Booking a venue for our wedding! And planning a trip out to California to investigate vendors.
- Planning a summer that will involve a full time paying job in a lab that I enjoy being in and research cruises out on the Gulf :)
- Almost weekly meetings for lunch and/or drinks with my dear friend and bridesmaid Alicia, who got engaged two days ago! I'm so happy and excited for her and her now fiancee! Wow that's weird. But a good weird.

I mentioned in my previous post (or rather the comments) that I should give at least one story about the good kids in my classes. As I racked my brain, I found that there's really not a story about the good kids. I enjoyed having them in my classes, and they gave me a ray of hope that the world may not end after all. Though for a short story, in the last lab of the semester, Nekton/Benthos, we discussed the effects of pollution through non-recyclable plastics, what different animals live where, and then a series of video clips about things that I find awesome followed (i.e. bubble netting, dolphin longshore feeding, Christmas Island crab spawning, flamboyant cuttlefish, pretty much anything narrated by David Attenborough) and a video about overfishing (look up Blue Planet: Deep Trouble episode).

I swear to god, everything this man says sounds AMAZING. ALWAYS. By far, my favorite documentary narrator.

This was the class that a couple of students spoke up about other options of where to recycle. At the end, one pair of students that had piped in in the discussion came up to talk to me at the end of class to talk about a book she had read for a different class in Environmental Studies. I forget the name of the book, I'll email her about it later, but she said that she was so moved by it that she decided to not eat fish, and she had previously not given any thought to it. It was really... something. I felt fortunate to have been her TA.


In other news, we start our move to Houston on Wednesday. I haven't really started packing yet. Maybe I should start packing up the office tonight. It'll give me something to do other than re-watch the 7th season of Gilmore Girls. I've also been investigating washers and dryers. We're FINALLY moving to an apartment with washer/dryer connections and while it would be cheaper to buy off of craigslist, I'd rather buy new. I think it's worth the cost to invest in something new that I can get fixed in case of accidents. Plus, with applying for a card from the store, I can pay off the washer and dryer but keep the card for future big purchases. It feels so adult!

After moving, we have a week to get settled before jetting off to California to tour our venue and investigate the florist, photographers, cake bakers, hotels, rehearsal dinner locations, and observe a set up of a wedding at the venue. It's going to be a packed weekend, but I'm really looking forward to it. It'll be nice to get something concrete done and not school related for the next couple weeks.

*face-palm*

A while ago I had a student miss a class and she didn't email me or come talk to me about missing it. So I was really surprised when she submitted a data form for the class she didn't attend. I took a closer look and it was a xeroxed copy of her lab partner's data form. She just scribbled out his name and wrote in hers.

At first I wasn't sure how to deal with her because I had never had that happen before. So when she was done with the lab I took her outside and showed her the data form and told her "This is plagiarism and I can't accept this data form. I don't want to have to report you to the Aggie Honor Code Office."

For those of you that aren't Aggies, we at Texas A&M have an honor code that all students must abide by:

"An Aggie does not lie, cheat, or steal, or tolerate those who do."

The Honor Code Office (or Academic Integrity Office) handles cases of cheating and plagiarism, and students can be expelled for plagiarism depending on the severity.

Her response to my statement was "Oh my gosh, I didn't think about it that way! I'm so sorry, thank you for letting me know."

In my head I'm thinking "How else would you think about it? You took your partner's data form, xeroxed it, and tried to pass it off as your own. That's the scenario definition of plagiarism."

Anyhow, I give my students the opportunity to complete extra credit by finding scientific articles and writing a one page summary of the article. I reminded her of the opportunity and said that she can make up the points that way.

She came by my office 5 minutes to the deadline and handed me a stack of papers, along with her Fandango ticket to see African Cats, and then left. A few minutes after she left I looked through the papers to find:

- a scientific article on coral reefs (NOT a summary, just the article)
- a scientific article on harmful algal blooms (again, NOT a summary, just the article)
- an incomplete google docs printout of what looks to be a summary on beached oiled seabird surveys (nothing related to the aforementioned articles).

Confused, I emailed her asking if she misunderstood the assignment or if there was a mix up. She emailed back about a half hour later saying "Oh my goodness, I gave you the wrong stuff! I already left town for the weekend, can I email them to you?"

I said yes she can email it. If it's a simple mix up I have no problem giving her the opportunity to rectify the situation.

This morning I wake up to no email from her. So I emailed her this morning saying "I need your summaries (SUMMARIES, not the articles, but please include a works cited of the articles you summarized) via email by 5 pm today. In fairness to those students that turned theirs in on time, after 5 pm, your submission will be considered void and won't count as extra credit."

In my head I'm thinking, "If someone wants to go from a C to a B or a B to an A that badly, if they know they did something wrong and asked for an opportunity to correct their mistake, they would do so ASAP."

It's now 11 pm and I haven't even heard a "Sorry, I couldn't get to my email, here's my stuff." Obviously, she doesn't care enough. And I don't care enough to hear excuses.

The other girl from yesterday finally submitted her extra credit summaries, which she did as a text file and formatted it so that half of the summary was red and italicized and overall formatted weirdly. One was okay, the other was only half a page and didn't include a works cited.

I'm sorry, but for a summary, if I don't have some way of knowing what you summarized, how do I know whether or not what you wrote was plagiarized? Or completely bullshitted and made up?

Something similar came from the lab partner of the would-be plagiarizer. He submitted one, but didn't give a works cited. Fortunately there was still time until the deadline and I told him he needed to give me his works cited. He then submitted another summary, only this one was half a page because he put his works cited on the same page as the summary and took up about a quarter of the page with his heading.

Some students are not going to be happy with their grades. And quite honestly I don't care because they will be in the minority.

One of the Few Times I Feel Bad About Being a Hardass

So today is the deadline for extra credit in my class. I say in the syllabus and I said at the beginning of the semester that for extra credit, each student can read and summarize up to 5 scientific articles for 2 points each. If they do all 5, they move up an entire grade.

Now remember, I said this at the beginning of the semester. I also sent out a reminder after the last lab of the semester 3 weeks ago. I sent a reminder last week. And this week.

So imagine my surprise when I get an email that says this:

"Is there any possible way I could turn in the extra credit Monday? I have had an extremely busy week with three finals. I've completed one extra credit article but I'm pretty sure that is not enough to move to an 80."


I do feel kind of bad because the deadline being today isn't necessary in the sense that I need these in so I can have your grades done just in the knick of time for being submitted. I chose today because ideally everything would already be done and it gave my students between 2-3 weeks to know that hey, if they want a better grade, they have some time to do the extra credit. 


I also feel bad because there's really no reason for anyone in my class to get a C.


BUT. I need to stick to my guns here. It's not fair to the (few) students who turned in their summaries on time. On top of that, I'm giving them extra credit if they saw African Cats during opening week so as to maximize the amount of funds that go to saving the savannah. If I comply to every complainer in my classes, nothing would ever get done.


So, in conclusion, student, we all have busy weeks. But you had time to know what grade you had and whether or not you'd need to do the extra credit. Planning your time wisely is an essential lesson in college and I hope you've learned it well. Clearly, my class has not been a priority for you, and as you are a non-science major I can somewhat understand. Circumstances being what they are (i.e. you not doing well in my class and waiting until the last minute to do anything about it, and then asking me to extend a deadline that you've known about all semester), you're stuck with a C. 


Too bad. So sad. Better luck next time.










I mean, really? Teaching this class has shown me that quite a few people with little common sense and/or sense of independent thinking do actually get into college. Which is frightening. I really feel that the standards for getting into college should be stricter. And so should the primary education standards. Education should be more valued, and not religiously skewed. Teaching young people to think for themselves in primary school should be required. So should the value of planning and getting shit done. 

Tummy Evolution.

Over the past couple of years, I've accumulated aversions to different restaurants for a variety of reasons:

- Pita Pit because I had an explosion of ranch in my mouth and too much of the same taste in one wrap. 

- Panda Express because it's too greasy and I didn't have to wait until after eating to feel the regret bubbling in my stomach. Even with the veggies instead of fried rice or chow mein. 

- Recently, restaurant tortilla chips have been added to this list, probably because I was eating too many and they were a bit too greasy. This fact was only noticed after beginning my diet/lifestyle change.

- Chik Fil-A: I tried the nuggets once. And I can say that I will never touch them again. Grilled chicken sandwich wasn't AS bad, but bad enough.

And now: Rudy's BBQ. 

I used to be able to eat Rudy's at least every other week. We had it catered for our graduation party. And I think that's where the descent of Rudy's began, in terms of my tummy.

I can only take so much of the same thing. I can't/don't eat the same meal for lunch and dinner. If we make one thing for dinner this week, it will be at least a month before it's worked back into rotation. So when we were left with pounds upon pounds of Rudy's leftovers from the graduation party, it took me several months to "want" it again. Truth be told, when G started wanting it and I didn't, I couldn't think of a better alternative at the time, so I would grudgingly oblige. 

But yes. The leftovers. Dear god, the leftovers. A lot of it was frozen and we came up with a few ways to use it all during the summer (i.e. turkey in soup, brisket and sausage in chili, etc.). After finally eating it all, I never wanted to look at Rudy's again. 

Today, we had some leftover homemade vinegary coleslaw that went with our grilled fish tacos from a few nights ago, (what can I say, I loathe mayonnaise) and we have been trying to not let things rot in our fridge. So we figured the best thing to go with it was some BBQ. (Side note: we would have made something instead of buying food from a restaurant, but Texas is weird and closes most of its stores on Easter Sunday.)

Anyhow, I figured, "why not? It's been a while, I should give it another chance." BIG mistake. My tummy is slowly evolving to reject anything that's too greasy. I could probably eat some homemade barbecue cuisine, but oh my god the heartburn from Rudy's is killing me. In my quest to eat healthier, I'm starting to actually HAVE to avoid things that are marginally more unhealthy. 

Things that I once considered super delicious and tasty, I now have no desire for because instinctively I know the consequences. And the sad part is that there is no satisfaction that comes to me from eating these things anymore. Only pain. And lots of it. 

It makes me wonder why I ate any of that stuff in the first place. I guess when I had a somewhat unhealthy eating style, there wasn't really much to rebel against. It was all that my body knew. And now that I'm incorporating more veggies and fruits and less fat into my meals, things that are excessively fatty and greasy, things that logically I shouldn't be eating, are things that I no longer want to eat. 

It's rather fascinating! A small scale revolution happening within my body. It makes me wonder how different I might be if I had recognized this sooner. 

Eat. Pray. Love.

So I finally gave in and watched Eat Pray Love tonight while G went out with his lab to celebrate his advisor getting tenure.

There really wasn't an issue with me watching the movie. I knew I wanted to see it and G didn't really care to. So I watched via netflix. I can honestly say that it's a really good movie. It made me laugh. It made me cry. But most of all, it made me think.

It made me think about what I want out of my life. I realized that most of all, I want to travel. I want to experience new cultures, new foods. Fortunately I'm in a line of work that can allow me to do so. I realized that, surprise, surprise, I worry too much. I am a bit of a control freak. I used to worry that that made me like my father. Sometimes I still worry that. There again I go, worrying. And sometimes I think being a worry-wort and control freak is a good thing, especially as a scientist. Constantly checking myself and my work for little screw ups.

And then I thought... maybe I spend too much time worrying and trying to control everything. *spoiler alert* In Italy, the main character Liz learns to appreciate the little things in life. To find passion and just enjoy being. We spend so much time overworking ourselves that when it comes time for a break, all we want to do is sit on a couch with a glass of wine in front of the TV. Is that really all we want for ourselves? To work so hard and so much that we can't see opportunities and life passing before our eyes? That we can't just stop for a few minutes to breathe, and realize that it's okay to live in the moment?

In India, Liz learns to clear her mind and forgive herself for past transgressions. I think everyone can benefit from such self discipline. Wouldn't things be simpler if you took the time to learn to block out the noisy inner workings of worry?

In Bali, Liz learns to love others, but most importantly, to love herself. We spend so much time degrading ourselves, thinking we should be less or more of something. What happened to appreciating yourself for who you are? Loving yourself for your imperfections, but not becoming complacent with them.

Everything comes back to balance. It's a true discipline. It's tough, it takes work (at least from the outside in), and from now on, I'm going to try to keep myself balanced, and take a few minutes out of every day to just breathe. And I'm also going to read the book. Hopefully not the one that has Julia Roberts on the cover.

Bridesmaid Dresses and Other Wedding Updates

Okay, I'm done reading about phytoplankton for the evening. So naturally it's time to think about wedding things.

When I had gone with my mom and maids of honor to go wedding dress shopping, I had found my dress at the first salon we went to. I had made maybe 3 or 4 appointments for the day, the last being David's Bridal.

The thing about David's Bridal is that I didn't like their wedding dresses AT ALL, but their selection for bridesmaid dresses and accessories was pretty good actually. Our wedding color scheme is dark green, canary yellow, white and black. The bridesmaid dresses are black and we found the perfect bridesmaid dress at David's.

It's perfect because 3 out of the 5 bridesmaids are short, and it's the perfect length so they don't look stocky and I love the bubble hem. It goes really well with my dress, but at the same time different. And to distinguish the maids of honor, they're going to wear a thin canary yellow sash around the waist.

I honestly was looking for something that looked like my 'maids could wear again. I know sometimes it doesn't work out that way, and I know because it's my day, they'll probably wear anything I ask them to (within reason, of course). But I tried. And I think I was successful.

Now even though it seems like the perfect dress, I'm going to do some investigating when we check out the venue in a couple weeks. Because the dress is so short, and it is Northern California after all, it may be a bit more chilly than I'm used to, so naturally I'm thinking up options for different weather that we may run into on our test run.

Other Option #1: in case it's really chilly.

Other Option #2: for my taller 'maids

Other Option #3: more accented MOH dress

Other Option #4: Some sort of shawl or cardigan.

That's pretty much what's running through my head right now.

While we're visiting in California, we'll be looking for a cake baker and a photographer. Future sister in law is acquainted with a photographer who's looking to build up her portfolio so hopefully we can get her within (or less!) than our budget. One of the suggested vendors for cakes from our venue was Butterfly Cakes. They seem more our taste (pun not really intended). Not hugely elaborate but still fitting for the occasion. Whimsical without being overwhelming, which I think is what we're going for. Neither of us are big party people. We're more kick back, relax, enjoy food, a few drinks and lots of laughs.

Not gonna lie, I'm really looking forward to cake tasting. I don't see the point in having separate cakes for the bride and groom, because the bride's cake would be CHOCOLATE. Though I do like the idea of a small cake for the wedding party and cupcakes for everyone else. If we could come up with something nerdy like this, our wedding would be complete :)

That's all the wedding updates for now :) 424 days to go!

Gardening is hard work.

So today at A&M was The Big Event. Seven oceanography grad students (myself included) and G rounded up at 8 am to walk over to Reed Arena, check in, get our tools and head over to a lady's house in Bryan to do yard work.

We spent about an hour waiting to check in and get our tools because we couldn't actually get our tools until the "speeches" were done. There was a former student athlete doing the last speech and honestly, I wonder how he ever graduated. He spoke three words at a time, i.e. "word word wordSTOP. word word wordSTOP." repeat. It was very hard to follow and he just kept going on and on... to be honest I don't think he really knew what he was talking about.

Anyhow, we drove over to this lady's house in Bryan. She's probably in her late 50s-early 60s, had a nice southern drawl, and her husband works the event staff part time at A&M. Their house was pretty large for this area and was lined all the way around with garden. We spent 3 hours pulling up weeds and avoiding spiders. Very sweaty work, but she bought us all pizza for lunch and had a cooler of water ready. She was awesome. She knew exactly what she wanted done and had all the tools to do it. I never realized how cathartic pulling up weeds and chopping away at dead plants was. It's a great way to metabolize angry and frustrated chemicals in the brain.

We came back home and showered. I opened a beer and crashed on the couch. I didn't feel sleepy immediately after getting home, but man, I passed out for 2 hours.

Spring has sprung. There's a carpet of pollen outside our apartment and if I don't take something for my allergies in the morning, dear god I want to die. Just walking outside makes me feel all itchy. It's fortunate to be in a profession where the likelihood of me being allergic to something is very low.

Spring break was week before last. We went to DQ's house for a lab party with a white elephant gift exchange. It was very fun, and it was interesting to compare and contrast G's lab to mine. Obviously hard science majors = hard drinkers. We likes the alcohols. DQ stopped counting the bottles of wine to make sangria after about the 6th one. And there's this really awesome Australian beer that everyone brought one of. Cause you know, DQ and Mr. Quigg are Australian. Blonde Allison #1's hubby is Australian, gotta represent.

White elephant exchange was long lasting, but full of laughs. The gifts that were stolen the most often were the box containing coffee beans, a coffee mug and Ghiradelli chocolates,  and Moon Sand (my gift!).

After the party we drove back to CS, which was a lot easier to stay awake for because we left Galveston at 10 pm instead of 12 am. And then Sunday we went shopping for boat gear for me cause I was going to be collecting samples for the first time and needed stuff to wear that would dry quickly. Thankfully those items are tax deductible because they were pretty pricey.

Being on the boat was a lot of fun, and fortunately I don't get sea sick. It was pretty windy in the morning (thanks, meteorologists for being COMPLETELY WRONG about the forecast), so the water was really choppy getting out to the first station. But after that it was a piece of cake. Again, it's something that completely wipes you out once you're done. I went to bed at 8:30 and slept until 6:30 the next morning. BEST SLEEP I had had in A LONG ASS TIME.

G came by on Wednesday and we stayed in a nice hotel. We walked along Sea Wall in the morning before heading out to Houston to go apartment hunting. I think we found a place, but we'll see how things go in the next month or so.

Quick Update.

We went to the Linkin Park concert in Houston last week before the craziness of studying for exams settled in for me. It was an awesome show, and we left feeling a bit deaf, but it was a price I was willing to pay. The Toyota Center in Houston is designed with special rafters that reflect sound back down on the audience so the bass was RIDICULOUS despite sitting as far away from the stage as one possibly can be.

Despite hearing the songs over and over again (thanks G) for weeks leading up to the concert, I still wasn't familiar with the new album, A Thousand Suns. It's a lot different from their previous albums, but it grows on you every time you listen to it. Seeing a majority of the album performed live, along with a bunch of oldies that I'm well acquainted with, was truly an amazing experience. I'm glad we went, and I'm happy that we can scratch them off our list of bands to see in concert.

Who we've seen so far:
- Linkin Park
- Green Day (also in the Toyota Center)
- Franz Ferdinand
- Puddle of Mudd
- Sevendust
- 10 Years
- Three Days Grace
- Buckcherry

Still need to see:
- My Chemical Romance
- Breaking Benjamin

Exam Stuff:

Geological oceanography exam was yesterday. Prof said to use the objectives heading each lecture as a guide for studying. So I did. For three days I did almost nothing else. Felt pretty confident that I understood the concepts outlined in the objectives. Get to the test. Stare at it.

I have never seen such a disjuncture between what we talked about in lecture and what was asked of us on the exam. I did my best, but honestly, I don't feel that I passed at all. The only other time I've felt an utter crippling of my self esteem because of a test was in Biochem II. This was torture. And what made it worse was all of the geo ocean majors were all "that was so fuckin easy, omg." STFU GEO OCEAN MAJORS. I HATE YOU ALL RIGHT NOW.

I talked to other students (who aren't geo majors or have geo backgrounds) and they reassured me that that's just how the class is. The prof rarely gives out less than a B unless you really just don't do anything in the class. So why am I still freaking out? Because you never know. I like to do well. I like to have solid ground when it comes to my grade. I don't like to count on a curve or generosity for trying.

I'm still angsting about it even after talking at length with Alicia, who had a similar encounter with her test yesterday. Drowning our sorrows in margaritas and mexican last night was wonderful.

I had even been up since 5 am because A) I couldn't sleep for worry that the test was going to be awful. I was right in thinking so. And B) G was talking and laughing in his sleep, and stealing the covers. I honestly don't remember what he said. I think it was combining with my half dreams about geology and resulted in my hearing complete nonsense.

Tomorrow's bio ocean exam (I will get my revenge, geo majors. I WILL GET MY REVENGE.) and then I plan to go home and crash on the couch with a glass of wine and my netflix queue.

I haven't been grading data forms lately because I've been busy doing homework and keeping up with my own classes. And today a student noticed and sent me an email asking me why I haven't graded her make up yet.

Students. I, like you, have other shit to do. The difference? I need to keep my GPR up for financial aid, and not fail out of grad school. On top of taking 3 graduate courses, two of which have exams this week and one of those assigns annoyingly tedious homework assignments that take up A LOT of time, I have to teach 3 classes. And grade. SIXTY DATA FORMS AND SIXTY QUIZZES EVERY WEEK.

Granted, that was my choice. However, sometimes, my own shit comes first. Deal with it.

Repeat repeat beat beat.

I'm beginning to wonder if I should even bother with the lecture before students can start the lab. No matter how many times I say the same thing over and over in the lecture, for some reason, I'm just not heard.

I suppose the only reason to keep lecturing is so that I can say I actually did tell them what they needed to know in case of complaints about their grades. I said at least 3 times "answer your questions in the way that they SHOULD BE, NOT the way your results suggest." At least half of my class didn't follow those instructions.

Another funny thing: I got a complaint that I took off points because a student didn't connect their points on a line graph because I "didn't say that they needed to."

#1, I did say so at the beginning of the semester and the first couple labs until I assumed it was beaten into your heads.

#2, I asked the student if they would submit a line graph to a math class without connecting their points. Their reply "... but you didn't say that we had to!" I shouldn't have to, but I did anyway. Still not heard.



Why is it so hard for people to read directions? Once again I got line graphs where the instructions clearly say "bar graph," yet again.

*facepalm*

Comparisons.

So one of my Texas besties, Lara, has been doing Teach for America down in the Rio Grande Valley at a middle school, and she also blogs about her teaching adventures. I shamelessly follow her and I think she's awesome. For one thing, I don't think I'd have the patience to work with 12 and 13 year olds. So whenever I read her blog, I do an internal comparison between her teaching stuff and my teaching stuff.

Reasons why Lara is awesome:
*She posts regularly about the good, the bad, and the ugly. And sometimes, the excellent. Always balance. I like it.
*She's still learning about teaching, as I am.
*She still has at least another year of teaching. I don't. Though I think I'm glad for my own situation.
*She has to deal with parents, ADHD kids, and annoying kids in general. All day, 5 days a week.
*She has the chance to mold these whiny middle schoolers into better students at a higher education level. So hopefully, with more Lara's in the world, TA's won't have as much to complain about

Internal comparisons:

I usually just complain about the lack of effort I get from my students. And sometimes their idiocy. However, when grading yesterday, I got two perfect forms (out of the 60 that I graded). There's still hope.

I only have to see my students once a week for two hours each lab. I don't get to work with them, to really tell them how to improve, and see if they listen. But at the same time, I'm glad that I don't have to baby them, or deal with their parents. In college, students are away from their parents for the first time. They've left the nest, they need to learn to take care of their shit. Sure, I'd feel bad failing a student, but I can only do so much. The apathy I get from my students really scares me some times. You as a student are paying to take my class. Show some interest, learn something. Don't pay for a class if you're not going to put some effort into it.

I think there's a dilemma about whether or not students should be required to take classes that are not relevant to their major. Would making a Business Administration major take an Oceanography lab for science credit make them a more well rounded student and person? Maybe. It depends on whether or not they care. Universities make requirements and most students will take what they perceive to be the easy way out. But why? Where did that begin? What's the difference between doing one thing really well and doing multiple things at an average level of accomplishment? Does a well rounded student exist anymore? Did it ever?

The happs.

Today, a fellow resident of my complex left their car door jammed into mine. Their car door was OPEN and LEFT STUCK into my driver's seat door.

Not much damage. But still. Seriously? Who does that? I wouldn't think the owner of a car that's obviously been sideswiped would do that.

I long for my own house and a driveway that I don't have to share with anyone but George. I want to move.

I left them a nasty-gram.

Other happs:

This last week's lab took the whole 2 hours. Which means on Friday I was unable to eat lunch until 3 pm because Salinity took forever to set up. Thanks, conductivity meters, for not calibrating.

Students don't read directions. Am I surprised? I shouldn't be. Le sigh.

I'm broken. I can't eat the chips that are served with salsa in restaurants anymore. We went to Ninfa's for lunch, and my stomach is so upset right now. I can't handle the fried greasy goodness of chips. *tear*

George's battery died. We bought jumper cables and I learned how to jump start a car. Woo! (I'm praying that his car survives for the next 15 months.)

Research.

So I pretty much avoided writing my research paper abstract for the entire time that I've been home sick. Even today, when I knew that it needed to be done (it's due tomorrow), I very much preferred reading  Reasoning with Vampires. 


Fortunately for me I completed the task at hand in a few hours. I had already read up on my subject (Phytoplankton Dynamics: Responses to Nutrient Loading/Pulsing and Freshwater Inflows in Galveston Bay) last semester. However, it's infuriatingly frustrating to have to stretch out what I can say in half a page to a full page single spaced. 


I thought the purpose of scientific writing is to say what's important, be succinct and be done with it. I admit that in high school English class I was notorious for fluffing up my papers. But now? I just hope that my prof isn't too picky about the length. I mean really. What more can you say in 1/2 - 3/4 of a page (single spaced, mind you) without dabbling in writing the actual paper? 


Sighhhhhh. At least this research paper promises to be more well thought out than the one from last semester. Meaning that I can actually use it in my proposal and thesis. WOOOO PROGRESS. 


Time to go read The White Queen before falling asleep :)






I wish the happiest of birthdays to one of my best friends, Sarah :) Happy 23rd my dear! 

Highlights of the Weekend.

Instead of the usual in depth rundown of my thoughts from the past couple of days, I will give the highlights.

I stayed home Thursday because I was a coughing, mucus-y mess.

Thursday night/Friday morning it snowed. We got a few good inches. The university closed, and I didn't have to teach my class. Unfortunately, now I have to make up the lab the week after Easter. Again I stayed home because I was still sick.

Friday through Sunday was a lot of wedding planning.
*We figured out the best course of financial action so that we can pay for the thing without stressing about it.
*We have a venue for the ceremony and reception.
*We booked a flight out to SF for Memorial Day weekend so we can visit the venue and go over details. If we don't like it, we don't lose much financially. Plus, we have bakeries and a photographer that we need to hire, so it will be a productive weekend.
*Flight prices are annoyingly arbitrary and expensive. Kayak.com was actually better than trying to buy directly from Southwest Airlines.
*We have a wedding website :)
*I started compiling addresses for our friends and family.

Last night was the Super Bowl.
*The only thing I liked about the halftime show was that it was Tron-esque.
*Woo the Packers won.
*The Volkswagen commercial was my personal favorite. It makes me giggle.
*I made cinnamon streusel muffins. I craved something fluffy and sweet.

I've moved on from coughing to sneezing. Or needing to sneeze and not having the sneeze come when I want it to. I would very much like to breathe out of both nostrils. My trash can is full of tissues.

Sarah introduced me to quite possibly the funniest thing I've seen in a while. You should check it out.

Cold.

Cold cold and more cold. I'm sitting in my office with two shirts, a sweater and a blanket and still I shiver. Walking outside sucks the life out of me, it's so windy. And it sets off my asthma, weirdly enough. Maybe it's not weird.

So tired. I don't want to go to biogeochem this evening. I want to go home, wrap myself up in my down comforter and watch movies while drinking a huge ass mug of tea. HUGE. ASS. MUG.

I didn't finish my bio ocean homework that was due today. It was so tedious and repetitive, with so many steps and it wasn't clear what he was looking for. Oh well. I'll start earlier next time.

Anyways. Michelle posted this earlier, and I think it's awesome.

http://melaniehazel.tumblr.com/post/2924682319/i-love-this-story-simplicity-is-underrated

Babies!

Okay, so I've been around a couple cute kids in the last month. I love kids. I find them adorable and intelligent and it's so awesome to be able to work with them like molding clay or (as is the case with Connor) Play Doh.

I've always known that I wanted to be a mom. I was the eldest, so I was always the babysitter. When I want to be a mom is a different story.

Desi told me a couple days ago that she had a dream and I was in it (big surprise, haha). It was her wedding, and I was the matron of honor (and I know Neha was a maid/matron of honor as well, though which, I'm not sure). And then she mentioned that I was also hugely pregnant.

It was then that I realized that if I were ever to become pregnant, my initial reaction would be, for lack of a better word, horrified. I guess that's my upbringing, having a young mom, coming from a long line of "16 and Pregnant" sort of family. Becoming pregnant was the worst thing that could happen to a girl, short of dying, I suppose. I was going to say that it would be the worst thing that could happen to a girl still in high school, but then I realized that I still think it's the worst thing that could happen to a woman at any age. Or maybe just me at any age.

It's ingrained in me. I want kids. But the process of getting one (or more??)? Not so appealing.

My mom always told me that she wants better for me, that she doesn't want me to end up like her, that she wants me to be better than her. Well, I'm 22, still not a mom and a college graduate, so I'm already there, in her mind at least. So I guess that's where my reaction comes from.

I'm just not sure how to deal with it. I'm sure the whole "biological clock ticking" when a woman reaches about 30 years of age will probably happen. And that sounds about right. I wouldn't want a kid when I'm still trying to figure out my life, going to school, trying to get a job in a field that I'm genuinely interested in, etc. I could definitely wait 8 more years. Thank god I have cousins who are already parents so I don't get pressure from my grandparents about wanting great grandbabies. George's family on the other hand... I hope they aren't holding their breath.

Is it wrong to have a reflex reaction of horror to the thought of being pregnant?

A whale of a tale and it's all true

I swear by my tattoo!

You know the semester's in the swing of things when I get nightmares about teaching. Last night the dream was me teaching this coming week's lab, only I for some reason was teaching at 2 pm and I was 3 minutes late. A tv was on in the corner and I was unable to turn it off, or turn the volume down. My students were paying attention more to the tv than me, and eventually I tried to at least change the channel so that there would only be white noise because for some reason unplugging the thing did no good. And then it was stuck on a channel with a Zac Efron movie (I'm pretty sure whatever movie it was was concocted by my imagination, but I got a weird sense of deja vu). I then said screw it, you're on your own, and if you have any questions, I will not be answering them because you're all too busy paying attention to the tv. End what I remember of the dream.

I have the feeling that this is me feeling some residual anger from what happened on Friday. Which is this:

My Wednesday classes are awesome. They show up 10 minutes early, and appear to have at least read the lab so they look like they know what they're doing. My Friday class drags their feet. A couple students showed up halfway into quiz time. A couple students didn't show up at all. And then. I have a student show up (who isn't mine) saying that he missed his lab earlier in the week, and talked to his professor who said that he could just show up to any of the Friday labs and it would be fine.

Um. Excuse me??

#1) Professors have no right to say when students can make up labs. Professors have nothing to do with the labs. So what makes them think that they can just send anyone to whatever lab?
#2) We as TAs have a system for making up labs, for those of us who allow make up labs. That system means that the student talks TO THEIR TA and not their professor who has nothing to do with the labs. The TA then talks to the other TAs that have labs when the student can make up the assignments to see if there's room. If there's no room, some other form of make up work is given. END OF STORY.
#3) Some classes are literally full, and there are no seats available (case in point, all three of my classes). Luckily for the dude that showed up, some of my students didn't so there was actually a spot for him to do work.

I was so caught off guard, I should have said too bad, I don't know if all of my students are coming. But I didn't. Next time I will know better.

That's just story number 1. Number 2 goes like this:

Student comes to class and says that this is his first class, what should he do? Um. I dunno. Maybe you should have emailed me beforehand. Cause there's work due today. Again. Caught off guard. Told him that he can talk to me after class about what to do. Gave him a paper to read and write a summary of. And then told him the what's what about class. Said that if you do this again in another class, you may have a TA who won't give a shit and say, you get to take the quiz, you should have emailed me to see if there was something you missed the first week of class.

There was something really odd about how he spoke. Like a surfer who lost too many brain cells. Think Keanu Reeves in Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. Kind of annoying.

In other news. I'm really excited about this week's recipes! We just went to the grocery store to stock up for the following:

Cajun Pecan-Crusted Catfish, served with green beans and garlic mashed potatoes
Indian-Spiced Chicken Pitas (I couldn't find the Indian spice indicated in the recipe, so we're substituting a Greek seasoning. Damn you HEB!)
Baked Mac N Cheese
Chili with cornbread and collard greens

I spent a lot of time going through EatingWell.com last night looking for healthy but tasty meals. We already made smoky stuffed peppers and spaghetti with quick meat sauce this past week. Very diet friendly.

I also found that trying to instantly cut 500 calories from your eating routine is really hard. The first class I teach on Wednesdays is from 11 to 1, and right around 11:45 I could feel my blood sugar drop. I was starving, my head was hurting, and generally I felt sick. I tried to progressively cut back on the calories and I think so far it's working. I'm doing a lot better at portion control, and snacking a bit less.

We tried walking around Wolf Pen Creek again yesterday morning because I overslept on Friday due to forgetting to set my alarm. And we were waiting for George to feel slightly less sick. It felt good, and my foot isn't hurting as much as it did after the first time. It hurt a bit while showering afterwards but so far not nearly as crippling. I think tomorrow we might try walking again while it's still nice outside. Stupid cold front coming in on Tuesday is supposed to drop the temperature to the 30s again.

Our 4 year anniversary was on Friday and it was beautiful outside! We pretty much skipped out on work as soon as I was done with TA stuff to walk around and drink in the sunshine. OGC happy hour at Mad Hatter's was nice. I definitely wanted to be there as soon as TA meeting was over. Had a few drinks and chatted with a few people before walking over to Cafe Eccell for dinner. I love anniversaries, they give me an excuse to order dessert! I love the chocolate strawberry tart. I just salivate thinking about it.

It was nice to do couple-y things. I think we get so caught up during the week trying to get shit done that we don't stop often enough to just be. And that's what I love the most about anniversaries. Just being. :)

It's not even the first lab yet!

Oh students.

How can I possibly say that phrase before having to actually teach a lab? I do believe I was feeling the same way last semester. Only I think the questions were a bit more stupid last semester.

"Oh, you mean I didn't have to ask you where the class is and at what time because you wrote it in the email that I'm replying to? Really? I had to read that?"

And this gem "Where's the e-manuel located?"

Ahem. You mean the E-MANUAL that is located in the tab at the top of the page in big letters labeled E-MANUAL. Right next to the other tab in big letters labeled "LAB QUESTIONS" which I know you were able to figure out because you did the damn pre lab assignment.


This semester it's "I bought the access code, but I didn't receive the username and password, and when I try to recover that information it says that I'm not in the system. PLZ HELP I'M SO STRESSED OUT RITE NOW."

Thanks for emailing me that, dear student. The night before class. When I told you, oh, a week and a half ago, and again in class last week, that this web-based textbook is REQUIRED for EVERYTHING WE DO. And I seem to recall telling you all not to wait until the last minute to do these assignments. Your 19 other classmates seem to have no problem following that instruction.

But I guess there's always one.





*facepalm*

Brownies are a girl's best friend.

I can't tell you how much I want to eat something deliciously sweet and fluffy.

Brownies. Pancakes. Cake. Pancake puppies from Denny's.

I have a really bad sweet tooth and it's sooooo hard to ignore. I'm doing my best to eat fruits instead. George just made some hot chocolate so that will have to do. Sigh.

We did make this super awesome recipe for dinner tonight. I love stuffed peppers. I have a recipe for it in my Betty Crocker cookbook, but this one was SO much better. The color in it was beautiful and actually, more tasty. (Tastier? meh.)

Walked around Wolf Pen Creek this morning again, though significantly shorter than last week due to my foot. But it still felt good. I'm not sure if I'm imagining the difference in how I look in the mirror. There's definitely a little less pudge! I love the balance ball we bought. It's so much fun to sit on and actually it feels better to sit on that than the couch. I hurt my tailbone when I was in 6th grade and ever since it has never been comfortable to sit for very long. But the balance ball is wonderful! Works out my back and it's fun to try to keep balance without slipping forward or backwards and off the ball.

I've been in denial about doing work today. This is not a good way to start off the new semester. Sigh. Tomorrow I actually have work to do. I'm also in denial about the pile of dishes that are sitting and waiting to be cleaned.

I finished two of the books that I got from Staci over Christmas, and there's many many many more to go. I'm not sure when I'll be able to read for pleasure again, but it is my goal to read the Barnes and Noble Classics. Still making my way through The Scarlet Letter, and next I should probably finish Alice in Wonderland. I keep starting them, putting them down and picking them up months later. I got a copy of The Arabian Nights after seeing a production in Berkeley. I think it'll be nice to have as a source for bedtime stories ^_^

I'm looking forward to looking through my ocean book for the first lab of the semester! The pictures are phenomenal and I really want my kids to be excited :)

Anyways. Hopefully I'll sleep better tonight than I did last night (aka this morning).

The World is a Vampire

I have Bullet with Butterfly Wings stuck in my head.

First week of school is going well so far. DQ came into CS today, and she came by my office and we chatted for a while. I made sure that my degree plan was okay and submitted it. So one thing off of my checklist. Woo.

First two classes I taught were okay. I had one student not show up to my last class on Wednesday but they were actually responsible and emailed me to say that they were sick with the flu and they can show me a doctor's note if necessary. I said it wasn't (I don't really want to be in the vicinity of someone that just had the flu). But it was nice to have a student that actually took care of their business when they missed class. Just one more class to teach tomorrow morning. I think I have my introduction to the class and webcom down.

In lab we're starting a recycling drive where students can bring in the caps from various bottles (water and soda, laundry detergent, shampoo bottles, gallons of milk, etc). Basically the hard plastic caps that are not allowed in normal plastic recycling bins are being collected, which is awesome because we show in the Nekton/Benthos lab that the main trash found in the stomach of birds and turtles and on beaches are those caps. I'll to bring it up at the TA meeting tomorrow that we could possibly boost the collection by making it competitive between classes. There are about 40 classes every week. I'm not sure what we can legally provide as a prize (remember in elementary school we could get a pizza party for pop tops?), but hopefully that will encourage our students to participate in recycling.

In wedding related news: I found my dress in the College Station mall, for about the same price as I found it for in Glendale. In my overexcited state, I said that I'd be okay to purchase on Saturday. However after talking to my mom, she said that it's too soon, she needs time to save money for it and we still have 16 months until the wedding. The store said that they can get the dress in in approximately 3 months. They don't do alterations, which is fine, I can take it to a seamstress/tailor in Galveston or the Houston area when we move in May. Sigh. I don't know when to order my dress.

*thought*

Maybe I should look in my many bridal magazines and Wedding Planning for Dummies. The Knot says 8 months ahead. I dunno. I feel like whatever can go wrong, will go wrong. It's happened to me in the past.

At least I know what dress I want, right? The hard part is over.



Innnnn other news... Yesterday was George's birthday. I made him peanut butter cupcakes with dark chocolate frosting to take with him into his lab to share. Mainly because I hate peanut butter and chocolate together and we're trying to lose weight, so this way I still got to bake him his special birthday cake, he got to enjoy it, AND we don't have to keep staring at a mound of cupcakes that only he will eat. Everyone wins! I think his lab-mates love me, haha. After classes were over we went over to Terrazzo Wine and Coffee Bar where we had yummy glasses of wine and an appetizer of hummus and pita bread.

Speaking of losing weight. We started an exercise regime where we exercise on MWF in the mornings, mainly by walking around Wolf Pen Creek at an aerobic pace for about 45 minutes and doing some push ups and sit ups or something. Or if it's freezing (like it is right now) we have a bunch of yoga podcasts to warm up in the morning. Sadly though, I hurt the arch of my foot while walking on Monday, so I've been reduced to limping around O&M and the house for the past few days. What's weird is I didn't realize that my foot hurt until Tuesday, when I felt REALLY sore. Now, not so sore, but my foot is being a pain by being in pain. I was hoping to take the bus this week so that we can cut down on gas expenses and also get some of the workout that we used to get before having our own cars.

I really want a balance ball now.

The other reason why I'm confused as to when to order my dress is when I tried on the sample gown at the mall, it was the perfect size for me... a perfect "10" as it were, because that was the size. The combination of that and my jeans being a bit tighter than they used to be spurned the exercise routine. So if I'm trying to lose weight, I should probably wait a few months and see if my measurements are different. Right? Siiiiiigh.


Despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage.

Oh Joyous Day!

George has funding! Thank god!

At the very least he has tuition paid for and if he could be paid as a Research Assistant that would be WONDERFUL.


*big sigh of relief*


In other news...

Today was rainy, but not as bitterly cold as it has been. We took our time getting up this morning, I ran out to get some things from HEB so that we could make Cream of Wheat for breakfast and try out George's coffee maker and the World Market coffee that my mom gave him for Christmas.

Last night we went to the Saint Michael's Episcopal School production of The Sorcerer by Gilbert and Sullivan. It was fun! It was only my second G&S production I've seen, but I sense that there will probably be more in my future. We went to Ben and Jerry's afterwards with a bunch of George's high school peeps. It was definitely a rowdy/nerdy and interesting bunch, but fun nonetheless. Emphasis on the nerdy, haha.

We also came into possession of the engagement pictures that Katie took over Thanksgiving Weekend last night and they are posted on picasa and facebook for your viewing pleasure! My favorite is this one

:)

I also went to the TA meeting yesterday, where I met my mentee, Yang Feng aka Cathy. I believe she's Chinese, and she's a PhD. student that's hopefully graduating this semester. Anyways, about the mentee thing, it was decided at the end of last semester that the way new TA's learned the ropes was not good enough and the mentor program was devised. The program takes the TA's that are teaching 3 sections of the lab and pair them up with a new TA. The new TA observes the old TA's first class of the week (before the new TA has to teach their first class of the week) so that the new TA can learn how the class goes, what the students are supposed to do, what questions to expect, how the experiments are conducted, etc. The way it was done last semester was basically at the end of TA meeting every Friday the new TA's had to stay with the old TA that was leading the meeting to go through the experiment that we had set up for the following week's lab and asked our questions there.

If you were able to follow that paragraph, you are amazing.

Anyhow. So I have a mentee. I updated my syllabus. And I finally came to the conclusion that instead of assigning a final paper, that I will allow my students to find a relevant scientific paper and write a summary on it for extra credit, and a total of 5 summaries maximum will be allowed. So I have my weekly quizzes, and summaries for extra credit if necessary. I think this is fair because I don't accept late work, whereas some of my fellow TA's do. This has hurt some of my students who simply didn't show up to class a few times and didn't bother to ask me what they can do to make up the work, or even tried to submit their worksheets two full days after the worksheet was due. Even so, I think I'm doing the right thing.




Sigh. I need new jeans. I only have 3 pairs that I can fit into comfortably :(

I can't think of anything else terribly important to report, but I'm sure I'll think of something later.

Winter Break part 2

Now let's see... where was I...

Other highlights of winter break include:

-A hair cut with Tia. The stylist twisted my curls into ringlets, but they looked like dreadlocks. Even so, I have less hair, somewhat layered, but it feels so much better. I hadn't had my hair cut in like 10 years. (no, I'm not joking).
-A day at Universal Studios with my aunt Staci and cousins Nick and Alex. And also seeing my uncle before he deployed to Iraq.
-My yearly trip to B&N with Staci so that she can load me up with books for my reading pleasure.
-Seeing my younger brother blossom into a tall young man who is funny and smart and has wit like a whip.  It makes me happy to know that I can still corrupt him though :)
-Spending time with my mommy is always precious to me. I never fully realize how much I miss her until I am with her and have to leave.
-We actually saw it snow in Santa Clarita. WTF. That hasn't happened in 20+ YEARS. For your viewing pleasure:

-I got lots of money to take scuba lessons this semester. I'm excited :)
-I miss my sisters Desi and Neha so much. I'm so glad that I got to look for a wedding gown and bridesmaid dresses with them! We found the most beautiful dresses for me and them, and I'm so excited to be getting married.
-George and I hunted down all of my cravings from home: King Taco, La Cocina, Chili John's, BJ's, and most importantly, In N Out ^_^
-We also went to the Marine Mammal Center in Marin, CA. There was a Dirty Jobs episode about it, but I can honestly say that I think I know where I want to be after graduation. I want to work in the Monterey National Marine Sanctuary and possibly work to create more Marine Protected Areas. And on my off days I'll volunteer at the MMC, get my fill of seals there :)
-In my first semester as a grad student, I earned a 4.0 GPR, for the first time since high school. And I can't tell you what a relief that was. I set the bar for myself, and for once I know how to do it again.


I'm also teaching 3 classes this semester, which will be interesting. I'm pretty sure I can do it. I can manage my time better.  I have Mondays off in case I need to go to Galveston. I'm earning more this semester in case George doesn't get funding.

All in all I think we're off to a good start! Now if only it weren't so cold, it would be a lot better...

I'm not really sure what I have to do today, so I might as well blog.

Time to recap the happenings of winter break :)

We set out from TX to CA on the 20th of December, and arrived in Berkeley on the evening of the 22nd. My conclusions from that drive are:
-Arizona is the state that will never end. You'd think it would be Texas, but no. It's Arizona.
-It is necessary for my next car to have cruise control. My Matrix, while it is my baby, is rather lacking in that area, and since my car is the one to go on road trips... it's kind of painful.
-Taking the 5 freeway up to NorCal sucks.

After arriving in Berkeley, we spent time with George's family, and I finally got to meet them all. Christmas was lovely, and I love his family. They're a great bunch :) It was funny because his cousins were all very curious to meet me, and vice versa.

I got to do some internal comparisons between his and my family and how they did Christmas. At first I was a bit frustrated because I'm used to the kids getting up at 6 in the morning (which we were working our way into getting our bodies adjusted to the time zone, but more on that later...) to go through our stockings, and once everyone is awake and downstairs, someone sifts through the mountain of gifts to give each person their own pile of presents. Everyone then proceeds to rip through their individual piles (now I'm just thinking of one sibling in particular, but we did all take part in this), and then we have breakfast while figuring out the newest toy.

George's family is quite different. And once I got past the initial frustration (which was in part due to my not knowing what to expect), it was actually kind of nice. We got up, ate a yummy french toast breakfast with eggs and tea and coffee, talked a bit and took pictures, and THEN we mozied over to the living room to open presents. George was wearing the Santa hat, so he distributed presents and stockings. Each person took turns opening one present at a time, which was something I had never experienced before.

Now, while I love the gifts I got from George, perhaps the most amazing gift I've ever received came from his parents. Through the World Wildlife Fund, they adopted a Mekong Dolphin for me. I have pictures of it and a stuffed animal of it, but I HAVE A FREAKING DOLPHIN. HOW COOL IS THAT???

Ahem. Very cool.

The rest of our time in the Bay Area was devoted to spending some more time with family, eating good food, and searching for a wedding venue. Tia was a good sport, she drove us to Half Moon Bay, where we had originally wanted to get married, but it was too expensive. We then thought, why not just get married on a state beach? We discovered that A) it's cold, B) it's windy and you can't really hear anyone that's more than 5 feet away from you, and C) not really wheelchair accessible. So beach was out.

Tia then suggested San Francisco City Hall, which looks like this:

So we decided to check it out. The interior is gorgeous:

We thought, hey, we could probably get married HERE and then walk down a block to a nice restaurant for the reception easy peasy! And probably a lot less expensive than most places! So we put a hold on City Hall and set out to look for a restaurant that would accommodate our guest list and the type of food we wanted for a reasonable price. Not as easy as it looks. We found a place, but I didn't really like the food. So we were sort of back to square one.

After talking it over, we decided that one of the things that we do want for our reception is to be able to dance. So the hunt continued. We found a place that is seemingly affordable, and everything we want (without beachfront location), but I don't want to jinx it, so more on it later :)

While we were in L.A., I did happen to find the dress *squeeeeeeee!!!* I haven't bought it yet because fittings will be easier in Texas than in California. Alicia's coming with me to buy it in Houston next weekend so WOO HOO!!!

ANYWAYS. The whole time we were in California I could not adjust to the time zone. I couldn't wake up any later than 7:30 each morning, regardless of what time I went to bed. A bit frustrating.

It's late in the morning. I should probably get up and shower and stuff. I'll continue on later.