New home

Hello!

So Ryan and I have a website and blog together now. I'm not sure if I'll keep updating this one...

so check it out:

www.apartmentfour.com

Taking one for the team

Yesterday was a pretty hectic day.

It was Monday, trying to get into gear with things. Analyzed some data. Went to a thesis defense. Ate cake.

Then 5pm rolls by and I change into my softball attire. It was game four. The previous game we won by one point, and we had actually improved our game a lot.

Then we learn that this team we're playing is actually very good. We get there and they're measuring (with a tape measure, not just steps) the distance between the bases. They also have multiple bats, which up to now has meant that the team can play.

We have one bat.

I digress. So, we warm up for the game. I'm feeling particulary lazy and sleepy. Our best and most competitive player, Jody, is out of town. And there's no beer.

So we start playing, and they demolish us from the start.

First inning: They score 6, we score 0.

Second inning: They score 3, we score 0. I pitched, we were happy that their score went down.

Third inning: They score 4, we score 0. Becky pitching, ok but they still scored a bit.

Fourth inning: They score 5, we score 0. Me pitching isn't helping.

Fifth inning: We decide to let Steph pitch, I can back her up if things go badly. I take 2nd base for the first time. Tim is being really helpful and trying to get the balls. Then a girl comes to bat. Hits the ball straight at me. I think, I can do this, I will try to catch it. I'm trying to figure out where to place my glove and bam, it hits me in the face.

My first reaction, because my vision was a bit blurry, was that I broke my glasses. Uh, no, I'm wearing contacts. Then I notice the blood spewing out of my nose. Some guy takes off his shirt and gives it to me to try to stop the bleeding. Dr. Jon comes to the rescue (an MD/PhD on our team), tries to get the bleeding to stop. A yellow towel is swapped for the tshirt. After a while the bleeding is better, I guess. But now everyone is wondering whether my nose is broken, and whether to take me to urgent care at the health center or to the ER. Jon whispers that he thinks it's either broken or my cartilage is torn.

This is not good, I think.

I get Becky to call Ryan, as Amanda comes with her car. We're off to urgent care. It's hurting quite a bit, although it's not as swollen as I would have thought.

Once at urgent care it went pretty quickly. I filled out the "triage" form (reason for visit: took a softball to the nose.)

Then they give me some ice, take my blood pressure. And it's off to wait for the doc in a room with a cushy bed. Jon came by to make sure I was alive :P That was sweet of him. I freak out a little bit.

Anyway, the doc finally comes in, he's very nice. Kind of didn't know where to start since there most of been a lot of blood around the area. It hurt quite a bit when he was cleaning it. He didn't think it was broken, though. He gave me two stitches right then and there (the softball cut into my skin a little bit), and I was on my way.

This is me now:


Not too bad I guess. It's just a bit painful. Certain facial expressions are a no-no, which I learned the hard way. Apparently I use a lot of facial expressions when I talk.

So I stayed home today, preparing for my meeting with Sue tomorrow, reading some papers, organizing my week, etc.

Off to do some more of that now :)

Summer Cleaning

This is the official first weekend of summer!
Weekend recap (although it's not over yet!!)

FRIDAY: I felt like crap, so I went into lab late (did read a paper in the morning, yay me!) and then came home right as happy hour was starting. Which lead to marathon "Weeds" watching. My new addiction. We finished Season II with a terrible cliffhanger... and Netflix only has season III on DVD (not streaming live), so we'll have to wait until next week to find out what happens. This is just as well, since we are way too addicted to this.


Ryan made a yummy meat and cheese platter for dinner, salami rocks! Oh, and we tried this Chilean cheese... I'm not a huge fan.

Then we watched "Thank you for Smoking", which was okay, but not great.

SATURDAY: Sleeping in, yay! What else did we do? Not too sure. I know I read three papers (my goal was between 3 or 4, so I'm pretty happy). Then we both worked out with Wii fit. Then at 6pm we were finally ready to go shopping!

I'm not sure if I talked before about Clinton Crossing, but it's a great outlet mall about 25 min away. I had to return some shoes, Ashley needed to return some stuff too, and Jessie was on a mission to get some jeans. We were all pretty successful (although I found jeans and Jessie didn't). Then we went to the Log Cabin for dinner. We were starving, which was a good thing because the portions were huge! We all took a ton of leftovers (so much that Ryan and I had my leftovers for lunch, and we'll probably have his for dinner).

SUNDAY: This is where the title of this post comes in.

My goal for today: start writing my prospecuts proposal.

Reality? Well, we woke up pretty early (talked to my folks in Argentina), had some breakfast... and then I started going through my closets. Massive spring cleaning (but it's summer now, so I guess it's summer cleaning). I finally threw away/donated a ton of clothes that I haven't worn in ages. Same thing with shoes. Plus we reorganized our drawers and closets. Very productive. The apartment actually looks great this weekend, we've been good.
And now I've actually written two paragraphs and Ryan went to do some shopping... ok, off to help him unload stuff from the car.

Crushing on Jon (but I still love you Ryan)

For some odd reason Jon Stewart decided to stop by Wallingford, CT last night and do some stand-up. It was so much fun! He is my favorite comedian, ever!

Ryan got me the tickets for my birthday. So we went there yesterday, and we got there by pure luck, Wallingford is confusing. Wallingford is where my BMS internship was... and that's about as exciting as that town gets. We were wondering to ourselves, why Wallingford. It turns out Jon Stewart had the same question. He was like, it's great to be here in... where the fuck am I?

He was very funny, minus a few times when he used some material from his show (I think it was when he was either nervous or needed a transition). I think he was funnier without those bits, he's just such a funny person.

Anyway...

In other news, I've actually read some papers. Although I'm quite behind. But hopefully I'll get at least 5 papers read this weekend. I'm also planning on having some of my classmates over for dinner and board games. We'll see if anyone shows up. It's kind of perfect for it, though, bc it's supposed to thunderstorm.

Another update, we got wii fit. It's pretty awesome. Awesomely brutal. But awesome. We've been good about using it every day. It keeps a chart of your BMI and weight, as well as your wii fit "age" (how balanced your body is or whatever). Ryan's lost a ton of weight already. Mainly because we've also been doing at least 30 minutes of exercise a day! Plus Ryan's doing tennis and golf. I've joined a coed softball team. It's been great. I'm pretty bad, but slowly getting better. I was pitcher the other day, which ended with one nasty bruise from being hit by a ball.

Quarter of a Century

Today is my 25th birthday :)
There will be a bbq on Sunday (if it doesn't rain) that I'm pretty excited about, as well as yummy cake!!
Tonight it'll just be Ryan and I, and I hear he's baking me a cake.

Have a great day!

Put down your novel and pick up a paper.

Wise words from my PI :)

This blogging more frequently may still be sporadic. Sorry.

I'm in my qualifying preparation time, or whatever. I had my preprospectus about 10 days ago, and will have my prospectus in less than two months. Hence the title of this post. I really need to crack down and get some reading/learning done.

What am I talking about?
So, as you know I'm getting my Ph.D. In our program, before the start of third year we have to pass our 'qualifying exam'. Basically a 2hr oral exam about topics related to my proposed thesis project.
What does this entail?
1. Summary of my research in one page: completed
2. Research in progress talk in front of whole department: completed
3. Meeting with committee to see if they like my project: completed, committee happy
4. Picking topics for my prospectus: completed
5. Coming up with lists of papers that I'm actually going to read: in progress
6. 10-page N1H style paper on my proposal: to do
7. Revamped presentation with more detail: to do
8. Actually reading 50+ papers:to do
9. 2hr qualifying exam: to do

So that's what I have been up to.

In better news, I got this prestigious fell0wship from the nati0n@l science found@ation!!! I'm very excited about this! Plus it increases my stipend!! Yay!!

In non-science news, I saw Smart People and was deeply disappointed!

Jag sameaj... Happy Passover!!

Back from hiatus

Hi...

The plan is to start blogging again...

I'll keep you posted.