Patriotism

Posted on November 6, 2008 by Amanda

I’m so proud of my country.

My entire country. Let’s keep moving forward.

[Edited to add: This was supposed to go up yesterday, but I had some technical problems. I still feel this way, so I posted it even though it’s late.]

Posted in Uncategorized | 6 Comments

Vote, please

Posted on November 4, 2008 by Amanda

I voted a while ago. Still, I’m happy everytime I see an “I voted” sticker.

If you can’t do it for yourself, then do it for me: Vote. Continue to make me happy.

Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments

Almost-R.I.P.

Posted on November 1, 2008 by Amanda

Our poor, poor car is almost dead.
It won’t start, creates lots of smoke, and sounds like it’s going to explode.* Sad.

*Dr. Man begs to differ on this last point. I say it sounds like it’s going to explode. He says, “It does not!”

Posted in Uncategorized | 7 Comments

InaDWriMo

Posted on October 30, 2008 by Amanda

The wonderful Brazen Hussy has graciously organized this year’s InaDWriMo. Unfortunately, I don’t have much writing to do (Damned Yeast Experiment keeps chugging along, but not much reasonable data yet). However, I have neglected much reading (field specific and otherwise). I have an embarrassing amount of articles to be read. cough, cough, 67, cough, cough So, my overly ambitious goal for November is to read all of them. If I just read about 2 a day, I’ll make it… right?

Posted in InaDWriMo | 5 Comments

Random Things

Posted on October 24, 2008 by Amanda

Disgruntled Julie tagged me a while ago with the “6 random things about me” meme. I’m in the midst of a 3.5 hour centrifugation, so I figured I might as well do follow up on her tag. So, here are the rules:
1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write 6 random things about yourself.
4. Tag 6 people at the end of your post and link to them.
5. Let each person you have tagged know by leaving a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry has posted.

1. I’m scared of birds. Not in a run-for-your-life sort of way, but in a please-don’t-feed-the-pigeons-around-me sort of way. It’s their beady eyes and sharp little beaks that freak me out. I’m convinced, that given half a chance, they’d peck my eyes out. A few years ago I went an aviary with friends of mine and I wore my glasses, just in case.

2. Speaking of glasses I have horrible eyesight in one eye. Seriously. It’s worse than anyone else I know (hence why the glasses are good protection). However, my other eye isn’t too bad. Every time I go to the eye doctor, s/he asks me if I had serious trauma to that eye. After I explain that the under-eye circles come from grad school (not a beating), they either (a) say “What are you doing to yourself?” or (b) “Well, something must have happened to make your vision that bad in only one eye.”

3. I like reading really bad romance novels. I don’t know what it is, but I like nothing more than unwinding with a hot bath, romance novel, and glass of wine at the end of the day. It seems that the romance novel is an intregal part of the equation. I’ve tried it without the book, with a more literary novel, and with a non-fiction book. None of them measured up to the romance novel. To keep the casual visitor to my home from discovering my bad taste, the romance novels all live on my bookshelf in the bedroom (yes, Dr. Man has his own).

4. I bite my nails. There I said it. I try not to do it, but somehow I always end up with my nails chewed off. Before SIL-1’s wedding I grew my nails out to the end of my fingertips. That’s the longest they’ve been in over 3 years. It’s a horrible and disgusting habit and I’ll break it, someday.

5. I don’t enjoy being scared. I know that makes me somewhat of a party pooper, but I just don’t like it. Therefore, I do not like haunted houses or any of that torture porn that passes for scary movies. Yes, I’m a scaredy-cat. That still won’t change my mind. Yes, I know that it’s make believe. I just don’t like the feeling. That doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t go and enjoy it. I’ll be at home with my romance novel.

6. I didn’t wear any make up until college. To this day I only wear it on special occasions. This is one parts laziness and two parts fear of looking like a fool. See, I passed that stage where you can experiment with make up/look like a fool and no one cares. I think that most people expect better of me now. They’d be wrong. So, after I put it on I deliberate for a long time over whether or not I look like either (a) a clown or (b) a prostitute. I have plenty of other things to feel insecure about, so I don’t deal with that on a daily basis.

I tag:
Scientist Mother
Physicienne
Science Girl
Jennie
JaneB
Anyone else who wants to do this!

Posted in Meme | 17 Comments

A funny thing happened during the Journal Club

Posted on October 23, 2008 by Amanda

Proving once again that I have the maturity of a 13 year old boy.

Scenario:
A slide detailing the infection process of an STD, the words “vaginal lumen” are displayed at the top. I nudge CurrentLabMate… we giggle quietly. A professor asks, “Is there anything special about the vagina?,” pause, “Is the infection process different there?” The student giving the presentation says, “No, it’s the same as the mouth or rectum.”

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments

Exhausted

Posted on October 20, 2008 by Amanda

The past weekend was fun, but exhausting. The entire weekend was packed with activities. On top of the previously mentioned parties, there was a rehearsal, a rehearsal dinner, pictures, and the actual wedding/reception to attend. In the end, I though the ceremony and reception were lovely (although, not everything went off the way SIL-1’s wanted). And I have a new brother-in-law (at least I think that’s the correct relationship term), BIL-1 (to match SIL-1 and he is now the oldest BIL I have).

On a related note, I had the first I-think-I’d-like-a-kid-and-not-just-a-cute-baby twinge. I ended up watching the ring bearer, who’s seven years old. Really everyone watched him. I just realized that it was late and he was too shy to partake of the food that was set out for the wedding party. So, I made sure that he got some food. The twinge came when I went to pour him some soda (I knew that he must be thirsty, he was stuck in a tux and it was approximately a thousand degrees in InLawTown) and he looked at me with big eyes and said, “I’m not allowed to have any soda. My mom would be really mad.” Twinge.

Luckily, I was able to suppress that with an excellent glass (or so) of sauvignon blanc.

Posted in Uncategorized | 8 Comments

Wedding Parties

Posted on October 15, 2008 by Amanda

Busy, busy, busy. It never really stops. In one shape or another, I’ve been very involved with work the past few months. This weekend, though, I get a bit of a break. SIL-1’s wedding is this weekend. Dr. Man and I are going down this evening, though. This is for two reasons (1) Dr. Man wants to see his family and (2) there are about a billion events prior to the wedding.

Now, I did have a bridal shower prior to my wedding (much to my annoyance). It was mostly done to appease my mother, who was aghast that I might not have one. I don’t like being the center of attention. I never have, really. So, the idea of opening up presents in front of everyone was not appealing. Still, it was easier to give in than it was to fight (and by that point in time I was picking my battles). The shower was a low-key affair with no games, but there was coffee (it was held at my favorite coffee shop). The shower wasn’t all that bad and the opening of presents was kept to a minimum. However, over the past two months, including this weekend, SIL-1 has had two bridal showers, a bachelorette party (with a lingerie shower), and a bridesmaid luncheon.

As I feel no compunction to give more than one gift, I’m not annoyed, but I am amazed. Amazed that anyone would want to spend that much time in the spotlight. Seriously, that’d be my worst nightmare. Still, this gives me a chance to dress up and wear cute dress one and cute dress two.

Posted in Uncategorized | 19 Comments

The Ties that (loosely) Bind

Posted on October 9, 2008 by Amanda

Many of my female friends have gotten married recently. These events always involve a variety of events and amongst these events is the Bachelorette Party. The locale of these have varied (from a night out on the town to a spa night in), but they all include one thing: lingerie giving. Why? I’m not sure. Very few have asked for such items (although, they were appreciated), but we give them nonetheless. It’s also not that much of a burden, at least on my part. I just go to Vicky’s (Victoria’s Secret) and look for something fun and pretty. At least, until now. This weekend is SIL-1’s Bachelorette Party. And she’s requested a lingerie shower.

I’ve posted previously about how we’re not particularly close, but I was thrilled that she asked me to be a bridesmaid as I thought it would bring us closer. Unfortunately, not so much. I think with all the wedding excitement and SIL-1 being three hours away, it’s just not really conducive to such things. (Even though I think she could have at least sent me a picture of the shoes I’ll be wearing or respond to my emails with more than one or two words.) While that bit hasn’t really worked out it did present a problem when I was shopping for her for this weekend’s event. As in how does one buy lingerie for someone one hardly knows? On top of that, how does one buy lingerie for the most Conservative Person One Is Personally Acquainted With (obviously, we don’t talk politics)?

She specifically asked for “sexy” lingerie. She said that she wanted something special. So, I went with the easiest way, I asked the sales clerk. I told her I was shopping for my very conservative sister-in-law’s bachelorette party and she wanted something sexy.

I ended up declining the sales clerk’s crotchless underwear suggestion and buying a tasteful babydoll instead.

Posted in Life | 16 Comments

Territorial

Posted on October 3, 2008 by Amanda

Occasionally, I can be a bit territorial in the lab. I don’t walk around my bench urinating or anything like that. However, I do get rather annoyed at certain people when they take things off of my bench and do not put them back.

Imagine this scenario: I’m working on a multi-day, time sensitive protocol. This protocol requires many different solutions. So I do what any good grad student would do, I make them up the day before. I, also, gather up all the various accouterment I need. That way I have everything that I need at my fingertips, when I need it. Now, did I mention that this protocol is time sensitive? That means that when X is finished, Y needs to be added right away. I’m merrily working away, pondering the data that this experiment may give me. My timer beeps and I go to add reagent Y. I reach up to grab it off of my shelf and it’s not there! I look on my bench, it’s not there I either. I frantically look around the lab. There it is. It’s sitting on Undergrad’s bench. I snatch it and add it to my experiment. It’s a finicky little experiment that if you let go just a minute past, it’s ruined.

This happened all day. I’d go to grab my pipet gun and, lo and behold, it’s not where I left it, you know, on my bench. I’d look around and someone would have “borrowed” it. It got to the point to where, when someone would approach my bench, I’d start to glower threateningly. Heaven help them if they reached to grab something off my bench. I’d pounce and demand that it would be returned immediately after the borrower had finished. I wanted it returned to the exact same spot. Unharmed. (This last bit I had to add on when Undergrad spilled the bottle, cracking the neck a bit, holding one of my solutions.) I’m sorely tempted to put a sign on my bench reading, “Trespassers will be shot on sight.”* But I don’t own a gun. Sigh.

*I kid, I kid. I’d amend it to have acid spilled on them, anyhow. **
**Still kidding. But, seriously, don’t “borrow” my stuff.

Posted in Grad School | 14 Comments